Frozen Assets
by TheZorker
Summary: Months after the Chitauri invasion, New York finally seems to be getting back to normal. Sadly, this includes crime. For Elsa and Anna, that means truly deciding if they want to be bystanders... or heroes. Fourth story in the Cryomancy series.
1. Chapter 1

_(A/N: Don't start here! This is the fourth story of the ongoing Frozen/Marvel's Cinematic Universe crossover series. It begins with Cryomancy, and the easiest way to find that story is by going through my profile page. For the rest of you, sorry to keep you waiting. Had a new job in a Pizza shop. - TZ)  
_

* * *

Upon first impression, Maria Hill's office at the Triskelion was clean, well lit, and organized. Maria liked order, and her desk reflected it, other than her computer, a single manilla folder was the only thing on it. There wasn't even a coffee cup.

Maria Hill began without preamble. "About eight weeks ago, hundreds, if not thousands, Chitauri descended on New York. While the Avengers, with help from SHIELD Agents and the NYPD managed to stop them, they left advanced arms and ammunition littered all over the city."

"We recovered a good deal of it," Maria continued. "Some of it fell into civilian hands. I'm sure you remember the pair that used Item 47 to rob banks. But the analysts have been running the numbers, and we think there's more of them out there. A lot more." She pushed the folder forward towards the agent sitting across from her. "A syndicate has been searching for people that may have found pieces and quietly acquiring them, paying top dollar."

The agent leaned forward, picking up the dossier, "Who? The five families?"

Maria shook her head. "We've people in their organizations, if it's them, we'd know. It could be some offshoot that we don't know about yet." She met his eyes. "That's why you're going in."

He frowned, opened up the folder, and scanned the first paper briefly. "And the introduction of... metahumans," he looked annoyed. "Is that what we're calling them? Metahumans? Aliens? Whatever. That makes it a SHIELD issue."

"That's right," Maria said. "And we need someone to go in, undercover, and break this madness apart before it takes a foothold."

The agent flipped through the other pages in the dossier,"I'm imagining a mob war, adding in toughs with superpowers," he said. "That... could tear the city apart."

"That is exactly what we're trying to prevent," Maria agreed.

"I'm just an average Joe," the Agent protested. "I don't have anything they'd be interested in."

"Certain of the Phase 2 prototypes are finished," Maria told him. "We've adapted a few of them for the person who takes this assignment. It should be exactly the kind of thing that will get their attention."

The agent digested this. "Alright, so now if they find out, they're interested. But I still don't have a way in, and I'm thinking robbing a bank is probably a little too high profile for drawing attention, not to mention a bad idea."

"We're pretty sure they're monitoring certain websites, such as AIM and MERC..."

"The Association of International Mercenaries and the More Economical Recruiting...whatever it was?" the Agent asked, breaking in. "They're still in business?"

"The website is based in a country where it's not actually illegal," Maria said. "But they're careful, they won't advertise people are working in the US. There's dark variations, though."

"Hm. So I list myself as a sociopath for hire and see what comes of it? I guess that works," the agent said, thinking about it. He frowned as Maria nodded. "Look, I don't like it. I have a wife and son, Maria. I want to be able to come back to them... how long will I be undercover?"

"The director says if nothing happens within three months, we'll pull you out."

"I.. I guess that means I'll be home in time before Michael starts football," he told her.

"We'll give you hazard pay for the full time, too. It'll give you a head start in paying for his college," Maria added.

The agent winced, they were hitting him where it hurts. He needed the money. SHIELD's paycheck were good... but he had big expenses coming up. As Maria just reminded him. "I... I..." it was probably his job if he refused it. "Alright. I'm in. Does the director want me to start immediately, or can I spend this weekend with my family?"

"Monday will be fine. It'll take time to procure the tech and to backstop your new identity."

Small favors. "Thank you, Ms. Hill."

Maria gave him one of her rare small smiles. "Thank you, Agent Payne."

* * *

 _Two months later_

Elsa knocked on Anna's door, contemplating the reversal a hundred years caused. But it had been only a few months to Elsa, and maybe a few weeks to Anna. "Tony says we need to be early. Are you almost ready?" she called.

"Almost. Be out in a moment!" Anna called.

They'd gotten this down to a routine. The first thing Anna wanted to do after waking up (or sleeping in, Elsa would say), was practice sword fighting. It was the one link she had kept to her old life. There hadn't been many servants left after her father sent most of them away, but the Captain of the Guard had been one. And Anna had been very bored.

None of Elsa, Pepper, or Bruce (when he was around) were interested in practicing with her. Tony was interested once, but after Anna firmly displayed that she actually had skill in the area, he wasn't interested either. So he had Jarvis create a holographic training exercise. To Anna's delight, her targets resembled the Chitauri Elsa had fought in the battle of New York.

The rest of the morning, and some of the afternoon, was dedicated to the practicing of English, of learning about the 21st century, and of the major things that had happened between Arendelle and the invasion of New York. Anna was very good, in Elsa's opinion, at acting interested. But she'd hated tutors back in Arendelle, and she didn't take to Jarvis very much in this respect, either. The fact that he was some kind of artificial intelligence, on the other hand, she thought was incredible.

It was the evenings that Anna looked forward to, these were dedicated to more hands on activities, getting them out in the world. For example, they'd gone to a restaurant with Pepper. Another night it was an animated film with Bruce, and after he realized the girls were getting none of the jokes, to an arcade afterward. Elsa hadn't enjoyed that, it had been too loud for her, but Anna had liked it.

Tonight, they were going out with Tony to something else. He'd been evasive about exactly what, only that he thought Elsa would enjoy it.

"She coming?" asked Tony dryly.

The door came open and Anna came out, her hair rebraided, dressed in a light green shirt and darker pants.

They descended to the basement, Tony picking one of his many expensive sport cars. Luckily, in Elsa's opinion, there were three of them, so he was forced to take one of the four doors, instead of one of the truly insane two seat models.

Tony drove aggressively through the downtown streets, weaving through cars with reflexes born of piloting his own armor. Anna was enraptured, but Elsa thought she was going to be sick. Anna had already expressed her desire to learn to drive. Elsa had sworn that it would be with Ms. Potts, or perhaps Mr. Banner, to teach her, if anyone. They arrived at a multistory parking garage. Tony insisted on racing to the roof, slowing only to park.

"Where are we going, anyway, Mr. Stark?" Anna asked as they got out.

Tony pulled a large metal suitcase out of the car, looking around, sneaking in a glance at Elsa. "That way," he said, pointing to the elevators.

"Hey, that doesn't answer my question," Anna said as Elsa followed suit.

Tony glanced at the elevator buttons. "Street Level," he told Elsa.

A few more people came in as the elevator descended. They were too engrossed in their own conversation to realize who they were sharing their elevator with.

As they descended to the street, and began their trek toward what looked like a giant building, with a few more people joining their path. Elsa could hear the whispers of people who had figured out that Avengers were present, but no one had approached yet. She knew from experience it was a matter of time, though. Tony looked slightly uncomfortable. "Glad we beat the majority of the throng, at least. I mean, it IS opening night."

"Madison Square Garden," read Anna, pointing upward. "New York Rangers versus the Washington Capitals."

"A sporting event," said Elsa. She recognized Madison Square Garden at least, but she couldn't pull what type of sports were held here.

Tony reached into a pocket and pulled out three pieces of paper, and held them out. "Take these, Anna?" he asked. She eagerly did so. He then pointed at the door, and all three of them went in.

"Tickets, please," asked the gentlemen inside.

Anna blinked at him momentarily, then looked at the papers, and handed them over. "Thank you."

He held some sort of wand, and waved it in front of each of them. It beeped loudly when it reached Tony's suitcase. He looked up at him, narrowing his eyes for a moment then looking into Stark's face and realizing exactly who he was admitting. "Are you?" he stammered.

"Yes."

"And is that?"

"It is."

He pulled a Walkie-Talkie off his shoulder, spoke into for a moment, got a response, and put it back. "Do you have any identification?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Really?" He pulled a small colorful magazine from his pocket, unfolded it, and held it beside his face. "Will this do?" he asked. Elsa glanced at it, "Iron Man and the Avengers, Defenders of the Earth," she read aloud.

"Oooh," said Anna, nudging her sister. "Do you think you're in that?"

The ticket taker turned to Elsa, looked shocked again, and waved them through.

Tony glanced at the magazine in his hand, chuckled, and folded it up again. Once past the ticket tackers, Tony made for a ramp listed "To: Signature Level Suites".

Once they'd arrived at what Tony called the box, and taken what were very nice seats, Tony pointed through the glass wall to what was clearly ice below. "So, have you had a chance to see Ice Hockey yet?"

Ice Hockey. An American sport and... that's all she knew. "No," Elsa admitted.

Anna had raced to the window, looking down to the ground below. The seats were still mostly empty, but fans had begun to filter in. "An ice rink?" she asked aloud.

"You'll see." He walked over to join Anna, looking down at the ice "Ice Hockey's one of those put the object in the basket sports," he shrugged. "In this case, puck and net, respectively. I don't care much for it, but Pepper insisted. We're going back to California soon, and she said this would be a good going away present."

Anna turned away from the glass, looking alarmed. "But, where would we stay, Mister Stark?"

"Oh, you can keep staying here. Banner is, after all," he waved his hand unconcernedly.

Elsa furrowed her brow. This wasn't quite like the Tony she'd lived with since the invasion. "Are you all right, Tony?" she thought back over the past few weeks. "Are you sleeping OK?"

Tony flinched before putting on his attitude again. "Yes. I'm sleeping fine."

Elsa was pretty sure that wasn't true, but she knew enough to know she didn't want to push him. She'd tell Ms. Potts.

While they were waiting for the game to start, Tony gave them some brief hockey lessons.

"How have you never tried this?" Anna asked Elsa. "You'd be great!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, "I don't have nearly the aggressiveness you think I do Anna," as one of the ones in a white shirt ran into one of the ones in a red shirt.

"But you don't even need the skates!"

"I suppose not," Elsa said dubiously.

Anna threw herself into the game, badgering Tony to explain the rules as best he could. Elsa watched the game more quietly, more interested in the skating and stick handling technical aspects than the aggressive part of the game itself.

They also had the chance to sample concession food. The cheeseburger she had a main course was nothing to be impressed with. Which wasn't to say she'd not had a good one, she shared Tony's opinion that the Whopper was the king of the cheeseburgers. But this wasn't a good one.

The fried dough called an "Elephant Ear", covered with powder sugar, on the other hand? She was going to have to force herself to join Anna's training in the morning.

The game wasn't particularly a nail biter, but the four to two Rangers win sent the home crowd happy, at least. Tony stalled for a while, afterward, giving the crowd a chance to mostly disperse before heading back to the car.

Traffic on the way home, however, was still moving slowly, especially for the late hour. Tony groused about being stuck behind some sort of opaque, heavy metal truck that he could not see around to pass.

As they waited, a bit ahead of them, came a loud **bang!**

"What was that?" asked Elsa, in the back seat, alarmed. "I can't see anything."

Anna, in the passenger seat, was straining to see around the other side of the steel truck. "I see smoke... a lot of it."

"Bang, black smoke. A car backfiring, probably," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "That's going to delay us even more."

The acrid smell of smoke began to waft into the car, and Tony turned up the fan to compensate. About thirty seconds of not moving later, there was the sound of a siren in the distance and coming closer. "Alright, maybe not," said Tony. "That's an ambulance."

"There!" pointed Elsa, spotting the ambulance coming down a side street to their left, panicked pedestrians hurrying out of the way.

"It's not slowing down!" cried Anna.

It hit about two vehicles in front of them, with a large crash echoed by the screams of the people on the sidewalks around them.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony stared out at the crash for a moment. "Really? That's straight out of a computer game," he opened his door, pulling his case out with him. "On the other hand, it works, which is probably how it made the game." He set down the suitcase and unlocked it, the Iron Man armor forming up around him.

Anna had already unbuckled herself and opened the door.

"Anna! Where are you going?" Elsa asked, alarmed.

"To help!" she told her sister.

"Are you insane?" Elsa shouted, fumbling with the seat belt. "You're going to get yourself killed!" the door slammed behind her sister, "...again," Elsa added under her breath. She finally managed to release herself, open her own door and take off after her sister.

She was momentarily blinded by the flashing of red and blue lights, not just from the ambulance, but from the stopped fire truck that had brought traffic to a halt in the first place. Her sister was nowhere to be seen, she could hear Tony's flyover in the Iron Man suit above her.

She heard further **CRACKS** in the air, and more shouts of alarm, Iron Man hovered in the air briefly, scanning for something above him, then took off, away from the scene.

For just a moment, she wished she had the earpiece connection to Jarvis that Tony did. She had to find Anna, and hurried toward the crash itself. There were at least of dozen men in heavy armor pouring from both emergency vehicles. They were all wearing black cloth masks, and they had guns. Some were using large pistols, others some type of rifle, the first time she'd seen any kind of firearm since the Chitauri invasion.

Elsa was pretty sure Anna's only experience with them was Sergeant Calhoun in that movie that Banner had taken them to see. This was real life though, not a cartoon, and Elsa wasn't convinced that Anna would recognize them. The thought terrified her.

Anna had heard Elsa, but how could one stay back if other people were in trouble? She hadn't hesitated to help her sister when Anna thought she needed her. Now, she wasn't going to let other people down either.

She ran past the far side of the nearest steel vehicle, as one of the men in black poured some sort of caustic substance over the door on its back. "Down! On the ground!" Anna heard another commanding someone. She stopped at the front of the truck, and peaked around the corner. It was a pedestrian, a young woman wearing a New York Ranger's jersey, probably having coming from the game, but there were at least two guards on her, and a third looking around, starting to move in her direction.

She darted forward, toward the middle truck, she could hear cries of pain coming from somewhere, and she risked another glance toward the wreck itself.. All she saw were men breaking into the back of the truck, unloading goods she didn't recognize. Another few were coming around the side, and Anna ran forward, toward the lead truck.

As she turned the corner on the entire scene, past the front of the lead truck, she saw a man in a red tunic and shirt, with symbols she didn't recognize on both pieces of clothing. His left arm hung limply to his side. One of the thieves had just slammed the hilt of his weapon into his good shoulder, and he was crying out in pain and terror.

Incensed, at full speed, and probably not thinking clearly, Anna did the only thing that made sense to her at that second: she tackled him. He might have been bigger than her, but she had momentum, and more importantly, surprise. They tumbled next to the truck, his weapon clattered harmlessly to the pavement, and Anna looked into his shocked expression for just a moment. Her first instinct after that was to punch his stomach to knock the wind out of him, but he must have been wearing some sort of armor, she felt the blow more than he did. Acting quickly, as the man looked to be recovering his senses, she did the next best thing, she lifted his head into the nearby metal truck frame. Hard. It impacted with a dull thud, and... he looked like he was going to be out for a while. 

The man in red didn't question his good fortune, and began to stagger towards the safe side of the street. Anna slipped forward, supporting his bad side. "They're... p... pp... pouring gasoline out," he stammered out at her. Anna had no idea what this meant. Cars ran on gasoline, she understood that, but pouring it out? She was supposed to understand something else about it, she was sure, but she couldn't worry about that right now. "We'll figure something out," she told him. Behind her, there was a shout behind her to "Stop!". She ignored it.

The air around her had gotten cold, and there was only two things that caused the temperature to drop that quickly: an oncoming spring storm, or a very upset Elsa.

The temperature on the New York streets dropped noticeably as Elsa deactivated her bracers, but she didn't have time to get her emotions in order, the men were fanning out to the fleet of three steel trucks and her sister had gone to 'help.'

And where had Tony gone?

The attackers were clearly focused on keeping their side of the street in check and getting into the trucks, they were using some sort of acid to burn through the locks. That was something she could slow down, anyway. She focused her magic on the ground in front of her, creating a solid wall of ice, about chest high, enough to give her some cover. She then focused her energy across to the truck itself, which coated itself in a thick layer of ice.

Shouts of surprise came from the two that were trying to break into the rear truck. One of them turned and fired at Elsa, who'd ducked behind her ice wall. The bullets didn't do anything more then chip the thick ice. After a moment, she looked up, intending to return fire, and was gratified to see them both seeking cover behind the now sealed truck.

Elsa booked up the street, taking cover behind a garbage can, not the most dignified of hiding spots, but it's what she had. She could see Anna disappearing around the corner of the leading vehicle, in the direction of the smoking ambulance. In front of her, a few thieves were promptly unloading the truck, and another was moving to flank her sister.

Placing both her hands on the ground, she forced energy into the ground, The ice snaked towards the one coming out of cover, who was completely unprepared for his footing to give way, landing on back with a loud thud.

Elsa hurriedly moved on, hearing shouts that the "Ice Witch" was attacking them. At least, that's what she hoped she was hearing. Tony had warned her that if didn't choose a recognizable code name, people would choose one for her. Turned out he was right.

For the moment, she'd live with it.

She'd gotten to the front vehicle just in time to see Anna help a wounded man back towards her, towards safety. One of the thieves had turned their rifle toward them and was in the process of leveling it.

Elsa gave a cry of alarm, and fired a bolt of magic instinctively towards the weapon. For a moment, she'd thought she'd missed and hit the human holding it. Thief or not, if she ever did to someone what she did to Anna, she didn't know if she could forgive herself.

When he threw down the gun, coated with frost, and began to shake out his hands, Elsa was relieved. She was only more so as Anna got the wounded man over to their side. "Don't ever do that again," Elsa admonished, the relief giving way to anger.

Anna brushed that off. "They're going to get away!" It was true, two more large vans had come to what was surely haul away whatever had been retrieved from the secure trucks. "If we hurry, we can stop them!" Anna insisted.

Elsa didn't want to admit, but Anna was right. "Get him somewhere safe," she told her sister. She turned to face the crime scene again, and standing between her and the robbers was a tall, somewhat muscular man clad in what could only be described as blue spandex. A yellow stripe down the center of his chest and the top of his mask gave him an almost serpent like appearance. That mask went from the top of his ears, to covering the bridge of his nose, with just thin pinpricks for his eyes.

"I'd been expecting the Captain, not you. But, hey. An Avenger's an Avenger. You'll suffice to prove myself. I'm Constrictor." So saying, he flicked his wrists, displaying a pair of whips made of some type of metal. A moment later, the crackle of lightning of filled the air, as electricity danced down both of them towards Elsa.

He snapped one of them towards the former queen, who dodged backward. A distinct, almost acidic smell, filled the air in front of Elsa. She stomped the ground under her, causing ice to spider out in all directions, but the Constrictor just sidestepped it, and snapped his cord out again, It snapped into Elsa's outstretched hand, sending a jolt of electricity through her body. She dropped to one knee, stunned, and was her painfully aware that he could easily destroy her bracers, something that might have disastrous consequences.

She ducked as the whips passed over her head harmlessly, then struggled to her feet, backing up as fast as she could. She needed to change her strategy, aware that her magic did not leave much to offensive capacity that she was willing to use.

That left snowballs. Or, more specifically, iceballs.

She'd thrown snowballs often enough as a child, but that didn't mean she knew how to properly throw a fastball. On the other hand, she could generate them quickly. Her opponent was able to dodge the first one, and the second one. Not the third, which scored a clean hit to the shoulder with an audible smack and a snarl from her adversary.

A sound came from overhead, distracting both of them momentarily. Iron man was returning,

"Whoops! Time to go," said Constrictor, stepping forward and aiming one last whip crack at her. She jumped backwards at the sound, and Constrictor took the opportunity to run for it. He shouted as he did so. "You'll want to take care of this, first!" He snapped his whips together, causing them to visibly spark in the distance. Then, with a loud **FOOM** , a huge line of gas caught fire, enveloping all three of the steel cars, the ambulance, and starting to threaten other abandoned cars.

"Where have you been?" Elsa demanded as Tony flew down to her.

"They had a sniper slash lookout," Tony told her. "At least, they had one. He took one pot shot at me and took off. I'm going to have to clear the road for the fire trucks to get through. Are there any civilians left?"

There was something off about Tony's voice. He was breathing hard, and sounded unsure of himself, but Elsa didn't have time to dwell on that. "I... I don't know," Elsa admitted.

"I'm on it!" Anna cried, taking off towards the trucks.

"I'll see if I can't keep that fire contained until you get the fire trucks here." Elsa told him, running after her sister. If anything happened to her because Elsa failed... well. She couldn't let that happen. She drew upon that fear, the emotional adrenalin, and the air temperature, rising from the fire, began to drop again. Snowflakes began to form in the air, falling onto the oil fire, as Anna went to check on each truck in turn.

Anna gave a cry of alarm when she reached the third truck in the sequence, a man was in the passenger seat – on the side of the fire, and it looked like he was unconscious. She tried the door. Locked.

Taking a deep breath, and knowing her sister would most likely kill her for it later, she ran to the other side. The smoke was dense and foul as she tried the passenger door. It was unlocked, and opened easily. The man was wearing the same red clothing as the previous victim, though this one had a small rip in the chest area where a weapon had clearly been used on him.

She had a clear memory of Jarvis telling her it was bad form to move accident victims, but he couldn't stay in this oven. She climbed in slightly and hooked her arms under his shoulders, pulling him roughly from the truck, slowing his descent to the pavement below. Then, her back muscles straining, she dragged him the few feet to the other side of the trucks to where Elsa strained against the heat and dryness of the fire.

"Elsa, he's unconscious... what do... what can I..." she asked, out of breath.

"Is he bleeding?" Elsa asked, her voice strained.

Anna checked, her hands shaking. "No... I don't think so. The wound seems small."

"Bullet," Elsa tried to remember. "No. Let him be until the doctors come. Anyone else?"

"No... they must have gotten away," Anna replied.

"Good... need to make sure this fire doesn't spread."

Anna rose to her feet, and moved to put her hand on her sister's shoulder, as if she could will her own energy into her sister's fight.

It took about another five minutes for the firetrucks and paramedics to arrive, after which Elsa was exhausted. She'd once plunged the entire city-state of Arendelle into an endless winter for over a full day, by accident of course, why had this drained her so much?

Anna watched the paramedics drive away with both of the men she had helped rescue.

"You girls look exhausted," Tony said, removing his faceplate.

"I am," admitted Elsa. "I don't think I've used my powers that much since New York was under attack."

Tony stared at her, his breath catching in his throat.

"Tony? You're not feeling OK, are you."

"Me?" he said, coming out of his short daze. "I'm fine. What else happened while I was chasing snipers?"

Anna detailed Elsa's confrontation with Constrictor.

"Really? Someone remastered Vanko's old whips? That's disturbing. Hammer's still in jail, right?" Elsa could barely hear Jarvis's confirmation through Tony's earpiece.

"So, what's so important that thugs like this raid a convoy for it, at night?" Anna asked.

"That's not our..." Elsa began.

"Oh, don't tell me you're not curious," Tony said. "I am. I'm going to go see." He walked over to the now unsealed third truck, and pulled out a large black case with a very familiar eagle logo. He opened it up, and his eyes went hard.

In the box were two, apparently intact, Chitauri rifles.

"I think Fury's going to owe us some answers," Tony said.


	3. Chapter 3

Even with Tony's assistance, it took some time for the emergency responders to clear the wrecked ambulances and other impediments out of the way for traffic to resume. Elsa and Anna cleared out of the way. The ability to manipulate temperature and water could be useful, but not helpful when it came to tow trucks.

Tony was quiet on the way home, but made up for it by playing some of his so called 'Heavy Metal'. Elsa thought this one was Black Sabbath, but she wasn't actually sure. To her, they all ran together.

It was nearly one in the morning when they got back, said their good nights, and retired to their rooms. But Elsa couldn't sleep that night. She kept replaying the night's events in her mind, only this time, instead of everything turning out OK, it kept turning to disaster. Anna got shot, or the fire ignited... something, causing an explosion and several people getting hurt and killed.

And it was her fault.

After a few attempts to press it from her mind, she got up, shivering from the thoughts. She reached over for her bracers, affixing the suppression devices back to her wrists. Then she pulled a nightgown over her pajamas, walking into the penthouse proper. Maybe some water would calm her nerves.

The light of the lower common room flickered on as she entered. "Thank you, Jarvis," she said quietly.

"My pleasure, Miss Elsa," came Jarvis. "Maybe you can do Mr. Stark a favor? He has been out on the landing platform for some time now. I would like to inform him of the time so he can get some proper sleep, but I have no speakers out there."

"Oh," she said. "Jarvis? Has Tony been sleeping well, of late? He seems..." she motioned with her hands, trying to think of the proper English term. Jarvis was silently unhelpful. "Not angry, not upset." She flailed another moment, "Nervous," she settled on. " _Agitated,_ " she said in Norsk.

Jarvis was silent.

"Oh, you probably don't want to discuss Tony like that, do you? I'll go talk to him." Maybe he just couldn't. Jarvis's speech patterns sounded so human, she had to remind herself occasionally that he was actually an AI. With all of the other wonders she'd seen, a mechanical human wouldn't have been that out of place.

The air in the upper common room was cooler than she expected, and for a change, it wasn't her fault. The door to the landing pad was open to the cooling fall air, a few dozen floors above downtown New York. There was always just the slight scent of smog in the skies of New York, and Elsa wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it.

Tony was standing with his back to the penthouse, staring at the stars. This was the most unlike his usual personality that she'd ever seen. Not the least like himself she could imagine, though. She grinned at the thought. She could imagine quite a bit. She stepped outside, "Tony?" she said.

Tony spun on the spot, staring incomprehensibly at Elsa, his hands shaking. Elsa took a step backward in her own shock. "Tony? It's... it's alright? It's just me." Tony put his fingers to his temple, his breathing loud and quick. After several long moments where he just stared, he finally took a long deep breath. "I'm sorry Elsa, not sleeping well. Think we'll have to leave tomorrow." He gave an audible swallow. "I'll sleep better in my home in Malibu. Don't worry, I'll leave part of Jarvis here, he'll keep you up to speed."

"You'll call Fury first, right?" Elsa asked. "Find out why SHIELD was moving the Chitauri parts, and how they got jumped?"

At the word of the alien invaders, Tony's breath caught and quickened again, though he tried to hide it. "Tony," Elsa said. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. I just keep looking up at that sky and seeing, nothing. Not the stars, just that big hole."

"How you almost didn't come back from it," Elsa said, watching Tony carefully.

"Yeah," he said. "That. Just need better sleep." He thought about that for a moment. "You couldn't sleep either and Jarvis sent you up here to check on me, right? Right."

"You're right," she admitted. "But, you know, I had the same problem, just from tonight." She described her dreams, "Back in my time," she began.

Tony snickered.

"What?" she demanded.

"Elsa, you're younger than me. You're not allowed to say back in my time."

"Uhm, ok? I meant, back in Arendelle, I froze the entire city, and the fjord besides. Even in the Battle for New York, I was able to use my power for a good length of time without becoming tired. Tonight, though..." she detailed the night's activities.

Tony considered the problem for a minute or two. "Don't underestimate yourself. Fires are hot, and they are dry. It's no surprise that it took a lot out of you. But I have a couple of connected theories, if you want to hear them."

"Please," Elsa told him.

"One, you've been freer about using your magic now. In Arendelle, you'd specifically not used it for years, so maybe you had a lot of energy stored up." Tony made a face. "Energy doesn't work that way. You're actually removing energy from the situation." He shook his head. "Whatever. Magic. Right. You had a lot of magic stored up from years, and it all came out at once."

Elsa blinked. "That makes a lot of sense, actually. But you said you had a couple of theories?"

"The bracers that Fury gave you that prevent your powers from leaking," Tony said. "Maybe they have the side effect of not letting you store as much magic as you did without them. This makes it easier to control subconsciously."

Elsa thought about it for about two seconds, "That's a trade off I'm willing to make."

Tony shrugged. "You should try exerting yourself more often, might help with that, like reflexes."

"Now you're sounding like Anna," Elsa said, laughing.

"Means she reasoned well," Tony told her. "Or maybe you want to try going without the bracers for a few hours, then see what happens."

Elsa went rigid. The image of Anna in Arendelle, a moment before her body completely froze flashed before her. Like a film in slow motion, Hans's sword crashed into the ice sculpture, shattering it into pieces. The presence of the bracers kept her from exploding in terror again. She stared forward without so much as blinking.  
"Elsa? ELSA!" called Tony, bringing her back to the present. He'd finally turned around and was looking at her in earnest.

"I'm... I'm sorry. That... that's not a risk I can take." Maybe Tony was right, and she didn't have enough magic to freeze New York like she had her home... but... no. She became aware her breathing had quickened, and took a deep breath in order to steady it. She thought she saw an almost quizzical look pass over Tony for a moment, then it vanished.

"Guess we both need some sleep, don't we?" he said.

"Yes, I guess we do."

Tony walked toward the door, back into the penthouse, and Elsa followed him. "Jarvis?" he asked the empty air. "What time is it, anyway?"

"It is precisely 1:42 at the tone, sir." Jarvis sounded a deep audio sound. Tony grinned at some unknown joke. "Yeah. Definitely time for a siesta. G'night Elsa."

"Good night, Tony," she said, as she headed to back towards her room. She paused before she got there, glanced around to make sure Tony had gone to his room. "Siesta, Jarvis?" she asked.

"Spanish for afternoon nap. An overnight's rest is usually a form of dormir, meaning 'to sleep'."

"Thank you, Jarvis," she said politely.

* * *

The next morning, after Anna had awoken (slowly) and dressed, she was surprised to find Elsa already in what she'd dubbed the practice area. She was even more surprised to find her sister with an armful of towels. "Uh, Elsa?" she asked, "What are those for?"

"Keeping the walls dry," Elsa replied. She set about affixing them to the wall using some sort of putty like substance.

"But why... ohhhh!" she said with realization. "You're going to borrow the training simulation! That's a great idea! But... I know you don't want to hit people with your magic directly, how are you going to train?"

"Snowballs, at first."

"That's not much of a warm up, is it?" Anna asked her innocently.

"It's the best I..." Elsa's eyes narrowed as she paused, turning to look at her sister. Anna gave her a big, cheesy grin. Elsa sighed, "You got me," she said, though Anna caught her mouth quirking upward. "Actually, I thought I could 'warm up' by sparring with you. I need to work off that fried dough from yesterday."

Anna's eyes widened in happy surprise, and positively raced for the rack where she stored her weapons. "Have you ever even held one of these before?" Anna asked, holding the sword by the hilt, pointed at the ground near her sister.

"I haven't," she admitted. "Father always thought that if I was really in a dangerous situation, the gloves came off," Elsa said, her mouth quirking upward again.

Anna blinked at her blankly.

"Is it sharp?" she asked, ignoring the lack of reaction to her own play on words.

"No," Anna replied. "They've been intentionally dulled. They're practice weapons."

Elsa picked up the weapon, surprised by the weight. It was heavier than she thought it should have been, at least from the way she had seen Anna handling it. She gripped the hilt with both hands in order to steady the wavering blade.

Anna had stepped to one side, watching Elsa. "That's alright," she said cheerfully. "I had to do the same thing when I first started learning. It got easier as I practiced." Anna took up a second identical blade, and stood across from her sister, and began running Elsa through what was evidently a simple drill.

Anna, Elsa knew, could be easily distractible. But when she was genuinely interested in something, she knew her stuff. She also had, Elsa had to admit, more endurance than Elsa had realized. This sword waving practice was tiring!

After about ten minutes, Elsa stepped back. "Alright Anna, I've had enough, for now," she was almost completely out of breath.

Anna's eyes glinted mischievously. "We'll have to do this more later."

Elsa's only response was to give her sister a very wary look. Once she'd put her own practice blade back in the corner, she returned to the center of the practice area. "Mr. Jarvis?" she asked the open air politely.

"Yes, Ms. Elsa," came Jarvis's voice.

"Tony said you would develop a training simulation for me? To work on my powers?"

"I have, Miss Elsa. Tony's instructions were that you were to work on your Stamina and your reaction time. Please move to the center of the area. Ms. Anna, you'll want to stand near the console."

The challenge that Jarvis presented was straightforward enough. He would create a wave of holographic Chitauri opponents staggered around her in most directions (he kindly neglected to put one in front of Anna), and Elsa had to generate snowballs, aim, and throw them at the targets. Being holographic, of course, the snowballs passed right through the targets, splatting against the towels on the walls.

After just a few targets, though, Jarvis stopped the simulation. "Elsa," came the disembodied voice. "You need to learn how to throw."

"I'm sorry?" Elsa asked, confused.

A holographic image – this one human - took center stage. "You're throwing a ball as if it was a dart, this gives you finesse, but ball throwing is usually about power. There's three pieces to learning how to throw a ball well. Step into your throws, rotate your upper body, and whip the ball forward." He demonstrated it with his holographic image.

Elsa was somewhat surprised by the complexity for what was simply throwing a ball, but as she thought about it, the physics made sense to her.

Anna, of course, was already trying to mimic the demonstrated motion. Elsa watched for a minute or so, then pointed out where she could improve her technique, specifically, by not trying to turn her legs with the rest of her body.

After a few more minutes, they switched roles, with Elsa promptly doing the same things she'd told her sister that she shouldn't do.

"That's much better," complimented Jarvis. "But you should practice that motion. Are you ready to resume the exercise?"

Anna moved back out of harms way, and Elsa signaled her readiness. The targets began appearing again, slowly at first, but quicker as she hit them. Then they spread out further around her, causing her to have to turn further.

After about five or six minutes, Elsa signaled for the halt, spent.

Anna hurried to support her sister.

"It's easier to sustain than it is to create, and that was constant creating," Elsa said, clearly exhausted.

"It was," Jarvis said. "Do you think your physical exertions earlier took a toll on your magic as well?"

"I don't know," Elsa admitted. "It certainly didn't help."

"I guess you'll just have to do this tomorrow," Anna said, grinning.

"I guess I will," Elsa said, smiling at Anna's eagerness. "In the mean time, I think I'll take a shower. You two have left me sore." she said, heading back towards the upstairs area.

"Well, Ms. Anna?" Jarvis inquired. "Do you wish to continue your weapon practice?"

"Actually," Anna said. An idea had struck her. "Can you teach me to throw a punch?"

* * *

Shortly before lunch, Jarvis summoned the sisters to the lounge. Tony had finally gotten through to the director of SHIELD, and had him on speaker.

"So," Tony began, "Why was SHIELD transporting Chitauri rifles through the middle New York, right after the NHL's opening night, especially with such a skeleton crew?"

"I don't recall having to answer to you, Stark," Fury said.

"Yet you got on the phone with me. If I'm going to continue to share some of my neat toys with you, and help you with design problems, you owe me some answers when you do something suspiciously stupid."

"Hm. If Stark suggests I've acted over-confidently, maybe I really have an error," Fury said dryly.

Elsa was well versed in suppressing her emotions, but Anna released a snicker loud enough for all three of them to hear.

Tony turned at her. "You are supposed to be on my side."

"You're dodging the question, director," Elsa said. "I don't know what your other vehicles were transporting, but you're lucky we were there to stop the loss of the third."

"I make my own luck, Ms. Elsa, I knew the situation was going to be well in hand, and I was right."

"Jarvis!" Tony called. "I need you to run another sweep for SHIELD bugs in the penthouse."

"Right away, Mr. Stark," Jarvis replied.

"Now, Tony. I believe turn about is fair play," Fury admonished.

"Fury, you really ought to forgive me for hacking into the helicarrier." Stark said.

There was silence on the other side of the line.

"Alright, so who were the men who broke into your very protected convoy?" asked Stark.

"We're calling them 'The Maggia'. They're an 'up and coming' organized syndicate within New York. They seem to have a focus on cutting edge tech and people with enhanced abilities."

Stark slapped the palm of his hand against his head. "This wasn't a robbery, this was a sting. You've tracked them already?"

"A sting?" Anna asked.

"A trap," clarified Fury. "Yes. It was a trap. As it turned out, having you on hand added a good deal authenticity to the operation, and you saved the life of the two agents that went off script."

"Shouldn't you have told them what was going on?" Anna asked, a rare flare of anger in her voice.

"They should have been told," Fury said. "I didn't set it up."

"So how can we help further?" asked Anna.

"We?" said Fury. "This isn't isn't an Avengers Initiative matter. If it had been, we'd have called you in and briefed you. As it is, you're not Agents of SHIELD, so while I thank you for your help, I don't require it any further."

"But I want to help," said Anna, clearly taken aback. "They're hurting others, right? I want to help."

"Miss Anna, you're not included in the Avengers Initiative, nor do you have the background required to be a SHIELD agent. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this a matter for trained agents."

"Excellent," said Tony. "Then I can wash my hands of the matter. So I can safely assume they were non working salvage."

"This isn't our first rodeo, Stark," Fury told him. Elsa could simply picture Fury's exasperated face. "Of course they were nonworking. We're not going to hand out anything anyone could actually use."

"Let's just hope they don't get it fixed," muttered Tony. "Not my problem," he said more loudly and much more cheerfully. "Means I can take off home in good conscience."

"As far as I'm concerned. Take care Tony, I'll call you when I need you."

"Not if?" asked Tony.

"I'm almost certain there will be something. Eventually," Fury told him.

"Are... are you sure I can't help?" Anna asked.

Elsa gave a sharp look at her sister. She'd collapsed in a chair, and had an almost glassy eyed expression on her face. "It's alright, Anna. Director Fury has turned me and Mr. Stark down."

"Just to be clear, I never offered."

"We've a trained operative in place, Ms. Anna. Your offer of assistance is appreciated but not required. Now. Anything else I can answer for you instead of getting to work I actually need done?"

"I'm good. Elsa?"

"Have a good afternoon, Mr. Fury," Elsa said, a bit of chill infecting her tone. She walked over to her sister, who was simply staring into space. "It's alright, Anna. We'll find a place in this world."

"Close the call, Jarvis," Tony said. He waited a moment for Jarvis's confirmation. "Well, you'll have run of this place for a while," Tony told her. "I'm heading out this afternoon. Pepper has a company to run, and I miss the warm California air."

Elsa walked over to Tony, "I haven't had the thank to properly thank you for what you've done for both me and Anna, Tony." She gave a formal curtsey, then then held out her hand. "Tony, I don't know what I would have done after waking up if it wasn't for you. Thank you."

Tony nodded in acknowledgment, smiled, and shook Elsa's hand.

Anna seemed to collect herself, and stood from the chair. She surprised both Tony and Elsa by holding her arms out, looking unsure of herself. Tony stepped forward into it, and Anna gave him a gentle, friendly, hug.

"You and Pepper," he said, shaking his head. "You are quite welcome," he said. "You'll be OK by yourselves?"

"We can make it," Elsa said confidently. "Together."

And to be fair, the first several days of life without Tony Stark in their life was much the same as the last few days with him. They still practiced in the morning, both with physical activities, and Elsa with her magic, and still had Jarvis teaching some of the finer points of the 21st century.

Anna still tried to get them out, to be a little more in touch with society. The film she dragged Elsa along to this particular night was a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (which their father originally had read to them from Grimm's Fairy Tales) called _Mirror, Mirror_.

"So, what did you think?" Anna asked her sister as they walked out of the theater.

"It was pretty good, mostly," Elsa said. "Just... not sure about the ending. Was she really trying to convince the Queen to commit suicide?"

"I... I hadn't thought of that. That hit really close to home, didn't it?"

Elsa nodded. "Does the ending change the enjoyment for the movie for you?" she asked.

Anna shook her head. "No, not really. It did for you, though, didn't it?"

"It did. I want to like it, but I don't think I can. The rest of it was good, though."

"Just because you didn't like the ending doesn't condemn it overall, does it?" Anna protested. "I mean, it was on average good."

"But I have to... oof!" Elsa was rudely crashed into by a young teen, a girl about the age of fourteen or so, she scrabbled at Elsa's arms, pure panic in her eyes. "Avenger, avenger," she said, repeating herself over and over.

Anna reacted quicker, grabbing the young girl by the wrist. " _Watch out!_ " she said, reverting to Norsk before catching herself. "Look out," she said again, gently pulling Elsa's attacker from her.

Elsa looked at the girl, raising an eyebrow at the suddenness of the collision. Then she looked harder. The girl looked nothing like people she was used to seeing. Her skin might have tanned once, but it was rough and dirty. Her long black hair was also tangled and unkempt. Her cheek bones were pronounced, and she had bruising just under her almond eyes, from strikes that were probably recent.

"Avenger, Ice avenger," she repeated. She strained against Anna's grip, looking up at Elsa with terrified eyes.

Elsa knelt down, to look at the girl on level. "Hey. Are you OK?"

The girl shook her head negatively.

"She's scared, Elsa. I think she's lost," Anna said.

"Are you lost?" Elsa asked.

She nodded.

"OK. Do you speak English?" Elsa asked.

"No well, some."

"All right, all right," Elsa said soothingly. "We'll take you to the police, and they'll find someone to take you home,

She began to strain again. "No! No police! They move, kill others! Ice avenger help me!"

Both the girl and Anna shivered slightly in the early fall air. Elsa met her terrified eyes, then looked at Anna.

"Others?" they asked each other in a horrified unison. People picked up the pace around them, trying to get out of the unnatural cold that Elsa was emanating.

 _(A/N: OK. So Frozen is a bit of an anachronistic stew here. It's allegedly set around 1840 or so, which would place it after the age when firearms really took over for swords. But Hans uses a longsword and his guards use crossbows. In Once Upon a Time, Anna also uses a longsword. If I_ _ **really**_ _wanted to split the difference, I could have had Anna trained with a rapier. But let's be honest: a longsword is more fun.)_


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Elsa asked. "I don't think Mr. Stark would approve of us bringing someone unfamiliar to his penthouse." Actually, Elsa was pretty sure this was a terrible idea, and might get them kicked out. On the other hand, the child had explicitly asked for the police not to be involved, and that really limited their options.

"It'll be fine," Anna said, but her voice lacked conviction. "Jarvis will help us find out where she belongs, we'll just get her cleaned up first," she continued, swiping her key card to let them in Tony's private elevator.

The girl was looking around, clearly terrified. She clutched at Anna's hand, shrinking back from every other person in the lobby. She still didn't relax, even when taken into the elevator. She did her best to stand in the middle of the elevator car, plainly claustrophobic.

Things didn't really improve when they arrived at the penthouse.

"Anna! Elsa!" called a cheery voice, "You're home!"

The girl let out a shriek that shocked Anna and Elsa.

"Was it something I said?" asked Olaf. He felt around his face. "Has my nose fallen off again?" he asked Anna in a stage whisper.

"No, Olaf," Anna said, "You're fine. I just don't think our guest has ever met a talking snowman before." She cautiously took the younger girl's hand, walking her out of the elevator step by step.

"Welcome back, Ms. Elsa, Ms. Anna," came Jarvis's voice as they exited the elevator. There was a pause. "I apologize, I didn't know you'd be bringing a guest. I will need to inform Mr. Stark about this."

"Please do," said Elsa. "Could you also please tell him about the circumstances?" she asked politely. When Jarvis told her yes, Elsa related to them what had happened on the way out of the theater.

While she did so, Anna helped the girl acclimate to the presence of the sentient snowman. After the initial shock, she warmed to Olaf's sunny disposition and clear kindness, even if they didn't actually understand each other.

"She doesn't speak English well," Elsa concluded. "Can you help us speak with her?"

Jarvis was silent for a moment. "Yes, I can. Please get her attention for me?"

Anna dutifully interrupted Olaf and the girl's animated mimed conversation. Then Jarvis spoke in a language that neither of sisters recognized, let alone understood. Their guest looked up excitedly, and responded in the same quick, odd tongue.

"She is Chinese," Jarvis told them. "Her name is Tang Mei-Lin. She's a Chinese national." Jarvis said.

"What?" Anna asked. "Chinese? How did she get here?"

"She was kidnapped by the triad... local organized crime. She was sold here as a..." Jarvis didn't finish. He didn't have to. Anna and Elsa's faces had gone as white as Elsa's hair, both in horror, and pure disgust.

"As a what?" Olaf asked.

"A... prostitute," Anna said. Her voice quaked with barely concealed rage.

The temperature in the room dropped just enough for Mei-Lin to notice, looking at Elsa in curiosity. "Who would..."

"Human trafficking is a very profitable business," Jarvis said.

Anna collected herself first. "Tang," she began, kneeling down to meet the girl at eye level.

"Mei-Lin," Elsa corrected quietly.

"What?" Anna asked.

"Mei-Lin," Elsa repeated. "Eastern cultures put their family name first. Honestly, Anna, do you ever pay attention?"

Anna ignored the jibe, attributing it to Elsa's current fury, and not blaming her for it in the slightest. "Mei-Lin," she began again. "How did you escape?"

Mei-Lin looked at Anna, her face in scrunched up in concentration... then shrugged and shook her head, indicating her incomprehension.

"Jarvis?" Anna asked, her voice displaying none of the frustration, and anger, that Elsa clearly saw in her sister's eyes. "Could you ask for us, please?"

Speaking again in that strange language, it took Jarvis a few minutes to come up with a coherent response. "She doesn't know. She says a brown haired man with a covered face took her from 'The Others', drove for a while, parked, ran for a bit, then waited for you outside the cinema."

"How did he know we were there?" Elsa asked.

"He had someone watching us?" Anna offered. "I mean, we kind of stand out."

"Of course you do," Olaf put in. "You saved the world!"

"Well, at least we saved New York," Elsa said, her face beginning to glimmer pink.

"Ms. Tang says she recognized you from the news she saw in school. She knew you helped people."

Elsa light blush turned full scarlet.

"Don't be embarrassed, Elsa!" Anna admonished her sister. "I'd loved to be recognized for being a hero."

Mei-Lin tugged shyly at Elsa's sleeves. "Help others?" she asked in her broken English.

"We will," promised Anna.

For once, Elsa couldn't fault her sister's impetuousness. But how, exactly did they plan to do that? Mei-Lin didn't want to go to the Police, and there would be no way to go SHIELD with out Tony's help, not that Anna was likely to want to go to them anyway.

Mei-Lin thrust a small piece of paper into Elsa's hand. Elsa flinched away from the touch, and the paper fluttered to the floor. Anna reached down, picked it up, and smoothed it out. "It's just a number," she reported. "and three letters. DNC."

Elsa took a steadying breath. "How many digits?" she asked.

"What? Oh!" Anna counted. "Ten."

"That's a phone number," Elsa said. "And DNC means..." she considered a few options.

"Do not call," Anna said. Then she frowned. "Wait. What? What good is a phone number you don't call?"

Elsa looked at her sister blankly. That was a good question.

"Pardon me," Jarvis said. "What is the actual phone number?"

Anna read it off.

Jarvis was quiet for a few seconds. "That is an unlisted mobile number," he told them. "Most mobiles these days come with a GPS for emergencies."

"Oh!" exclaimed Anna. "So all we need to do is track the signal, and it'll lead us right to it."

"Mr. Stark does have a device capable of tracking cell phones, but it will only give signal strength and direction."

"So we just follow it until," Anna began. "Oh. That would be hard to do in New York, wouldn't it?"

Elsa nodded her agreement. "So we..." she frowned. She could picture what she wanted to do, but how to explain it? "We use geometry instead. We can take multiple readings from all over the city. Then put them on a map, and where they converge, we'll have our target."

"Brilliant! We can use the subway to..."

"You should, Anna. I'll stay here with Mei-Lin."

"But when we know where they are, don't you want to do something immediately?" Anna asked.

"No," Elsa replied. "I want to make sure were rescue all of them, which means waiting until early morning."

Anna considered this, then nodded. "I understand. Jarvis? Where is this tracking device?"

Anna departed, taking with her a cell phone of her own to stay in contact with Jarvis.

Elsa was left with Olaf to monitor Mei-Lin. The first step was to help clean up, as she did not want to be left alone. It after the bath, when she could see plainly the bruises and scars that she really felt her temper rise. It was one thing for aliens in some sort of war to attack people. Elsa could get her head around that. This was worse. Whoever did this was human.

Elsa located some first aid supplies, and used her magic to cool the skin around the wounds directly, allowing them to be cleaned without hurting. Afterward, Elsa led her to a bedroom, and let her lie down.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Elsa," Jarvis said, his voice echoing from a speaker in the hall. "Ms. Potts would like to speak with you."

"Olaf?" Elsa asked, "Can you keep Mei-Lin company?"

"Of course!" he said excitedly.

"Thanks," she replied, heading out the door. Once in the lounge, she picked up the phone. "Good evening Pepper," Elsa said politely. "How angry is Tony?"

"He was initially furious," Pepper told her. "After Jarvis gave him the full explanation, he decided he couldn't actually be bothered to be upset. I think he's in the lab trying an idea for a new Iron Man suit."

"And are you upset?" Elsa asked.

"That you're helping someone?" Pepper asked. "No! I'm hardly as self centered as Tony. I called to say that if you needed any help, to make sure you knew how to reach us."

"That's very kind of you, Ms. Potts. Thank you."

"It's a failing of Tony. Thinking that he has to do everything himself, that is," she said, laughing.

"I've noticed," Elsa said. "Watch out for him, please, Pepper. I don't think he's quite right after the invasion. Something got to him. I mean, I didn't know him before, but something feels off."

"I'll keep an eye on him, two eyes when I can spare them," Pepper said.

"Thanks. And I'll let you know how this turns out."

"Please," Pepper said. "It'll be nice to hear good news about New York City once in a while."

"Anything else I should know, Pepper?"

"No, Elsa. You take care out there."

"You as well, Ms. Potts. Good night." Elsa hung up, then stood up. She could stare at the wall until Anna returned, or she could be productive. She went up to Tony's mini-lab, convinced that Olaf would reach her if something happened to Mei-Ln. She wanted an extra round of targeting practice, she was convinced it would be important soon.

It was approaching midnight when Anna returned from her exploration of the New York subway system. She joined Elsa in the lab. "We, I mean, Jarvis and I, have tracked the signal here." Jarvis helpfully displayed what appeared to be an office building."

"It's an office building, not far from the so called 'Hell's Kitchen'," Anna explained. "Who names a place Hell's Kitchen and expects anything good to happen there?" she asked nobody in particular. "I mean, they could have called it Heaven's Diner? The Elysian Fields? No. Hell's kitchen," she shook her head. "Then they're surprised..."

"Anna," said Elsa, non-plussed.

"Sorry," Anna said,

"I'm still trying to trace who owns the building," Jarvis said. The displayed image shimmered a bit, cutting into the interior. "It's mostly empty, the area was hit hard by the Chitauri invasion, which probably serves just fine. It's specifically noted for a parking garage under the building. But it appears to be locked from the inside

"Hm. So how do we get in?" asked Elsa.

"There's still a front door," Anna said. "And there has to be some way for them to get people in and out, so I'm guessing that garage isn't as locked as it seems."

"Or there's an elevator or stairs inside the building. Some of those offices are still occupied," added Jarvis.

"Stairs are easy enough," Elsa said. "But what if they're blocked and we have to use the elevator? And what if it's like the elevator here, keycard protected?"

"I was thinking about that on the way up," Anna admitted. "But I think I have the answer."

"Oh?" asked Elsa.

"Jarvis? Are elevators required to have a Fireman's override switch?" Anna asked.

"They are, Ms. Anna."

Elsa blinked. "Oh! It's like a keyhole, right?"

"Right! All you would have to do is fill the lock with ice enough to switch the elevator into override mode," Anna said.

"I think it'd still have to turn the switch," Elsa said, "But... yes, that could work. Would that trigger an alarm, though?" she asked.

"It doesn't in this building," said Jarvis. "But it might in the target. It might not just be a fire alarm, either."

"Better if we use the stairs," Elsa said.

"Yes," Anna agreed.

"Anything else you know about the building that might be helpful, Jarvis?" Elsa asked.

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Elsa."

"Alright. It's midnight now," she said. "Let's get what sleep we can. We'll get up at about five thirty, eat, and be on our way before six, just as the sun is coming up."

"Alright, sounds good," Anna replied.

"Oh, and Anna?"

"Yes?"

"I'll rely on the alarm to get me up. You don't need to wake me. I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

Elsa was good to her word, and she joined Anna in the kitchen just after 5:30. Her sister was already preparing eggs and toast. Elsa looked at her suspiciously. "You did sleep last night, right?" she asked.

"I did," Anna said," she was trying to sound calm, but Elsa could tell, just how excited she was. Elsa, on the other hand, was trying to hide her nervousness. There were so many things she had imagined going wrong. Universally, though, it was better than letting the kids go through another day of torment.

"Where's Olaf and Mei-Lin?" Elsa asked.

"Still asleep. Well, Mei-Lin is. Olaf doesn't actually sleep. I don't think. Does he?" Anna asked.

"Not that I can tell," Elsa replied.

Anna served up breakfast, and they ate quietly. When they finished, Elsa stood, and went down to Tony's lab while Anna cleaned herself up. She collected what she considered an essential, short range communicators and earpiece. "Any last minute advice, Jarvis? From you or from Tony?"

"Tony," Jarvis said, "Recommended you just send in a Giant ice golem and call it a day. He then went on say a giant sized armor was a terrific idea and went to work on it immediately."

"That sounds disturbing, actually."

"I try to keep him reigned in, as best I can."

"Alright, wish us luck."

"Good luck, Elsa."

The sun was just barely peaking up over the horizon as they left Stark Tower. Elsa was wearing the light blue frost colored suit she wore during the Battle for New York, hidden under a light jacket. Anna, on the hand, was wearing a full on cloak, over one of her green dresses. After several weeks in the modern world, it had started to look odd to Elsa.

"I'd always thought," Anna said, clutching the cloak around her, "I'd be traveling to a heroic rescue on a horse, or maybe one of those two wheeled vehicles..." she paused, floundering for the word.

"Motorcycle," Elsa supplied.

"Right, one of those. This," she looked around the almost empty subway car, "seems rather anticlimactic."

Elsa laughed. "I suppose. It works though."

"I mean, who would want to watch a movie where the heroines had to get to the evil base using public transit?"

"Anna," Elsa said, trying not to laugh harder, "Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the ride."

She did neither. Elsa did. She had to get herself calm. There were going to be civilians, and she needed to be able to use her magic without turning the whole place into a snowstorm. When they transferred, she could see her sister pull the cloak more closely around her.

"Are you cold, Anna?" she asked as they sat back down to go to the rest of the way "Am I... uh... leaking magic?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Anna said, distracted. "Oh! No, no, Elsa. I'm not cold."

"Then why are you," Elsa asked. Then realization dawned. "Anna," Elsa said exasperated. "You didn't."

"I didn't what?" she said said, suddenly evasive.

Elsa dropped her voice, "You brought your sword?"

"It's not like I can conjure balls of ice," Anna protested. "What if there's guards? With guns?" she protested. "We have to have some way of protecting ourselves."

"I'm just picturing us down at a police station because you brought a sharpened sword into a public area!" Elsa told her, careful to keep her voice down. "Then who would help the kids?"

"That's why I have the cloak," Anna said. "People won't protest what they can't see."

As the alternative was to argue and draw more attention to it, Elsa was content to let the matter drop, with one caveat. "Alright, Anna. Just... don't take an more unnecessary risks. Alright?"

"Alright," Anna agreed.

To Elsa's great relief, the rest of the trip passed without incident, and they headed up the escalator right as the subway began to become crowded with daytime commuters. "Which way?" Elsa asked.

Anna pulled Stark's tracking device out of her cloak pocket, checked it, and nodded down the street. The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, the smell of... something rotten. If downtown had mostly recovered from the Chitauri war, this place hadn't. They had tried to restrain the Chitauri, and they had done a pretty good job. Just not a perfect one.

Still, she could see signs of rebuilding, and it reminded her what was at stake. Maybe there was some fate, some destiny, that had brought them to this 'modern' world. It didn't matter. She was going too help people. That was the important part.

Their destination was only a block and a half away, and they were there before Elsa was ready. (It could have been ten blocks, and Elsa might still not have been ready.) The office building they were in front of would have been a large tower, back in Arendelle, but it wasn't as impressive compared to the skyscrapers she was used to now.

"This is it," Anna told her sister, taking the lead and pushing through the glass doors at the entrance. The lobby was clean and open, with hallways left and right of them leading toward offices. A pair of elevators were directly ahead of them.

One of the elevators was being held open by a pleasant faced man in a business suit and tie. Elsa entered after her sister, noted this, and immediately detoured to the directory on the right hand wall. "Sorry," she apologized, "We'll get the next one."

"Take care," he told them as the elevator's doors closed.

Elsa let a few seconds pass before she looked at her sister."Is the phone below us?" she asked.

"It is. Where's the stairs?" Anna asked, looking around.

"Uh," she said. "Look around for a door that isn't labeled," she decided. They circled around, as the hall made a loop. The hallways were about five or six offices to a side, big, but not huge. "In the center. There's only one office there, and there's room for more."

They found it, a wooden door in the center. Elsa opened it, and were rewarded with stairs. Disappointingly, they were stairs up, and the other side was a locked steel door. "Ugh," Elsa said, frustrated. "I was hoping for a wooden door I could freeze the lock out of. Metal... doesn't freeze very well."

Anna looked up. There was a dissonant note in her sister's voice that scared her. "Elsa," she said cautiously, "The past is in the past. It's ok, we'll take the elevator."

"Right," she said, looking up. "Right." They circled back around and Anna punched the down button on the elevator. It opened instantly.

"Garage closed pending clean up," Anna read from a sign in the wall. She tried the button marked P anyway. It didn't do anything. "Well, no key card. Which lock do you want to try?" she asked.

The doors slid shut as she considered. "This one," Elsa decided after a moment. "If the fireman's operation mode works, they'll be less expecting us from that direction. If it doesn't, it doesn't matter." So saying, she turned her bracers off, then put her fingers onto the fireman's control lock. The ice formed instantly, filling up the space inside the lock, spilling out after a few moments. "Cross your fingers," Elsa said. She tried to turn the ice and was rewarded with the sound of ice breaking, the pieces that didn't match the tumblers snapping inside. "Come on," she whispered. "Turn." And after another second, it did.

Anna reached down and pressed the parking button again. This time, it lit up and the elevator lurched into motion. Anna looked at Elsa and smiled. Then she pressed herself into the corner, out of immediate sight of the door, and quickly removed her cloak. The tracker was hooked to a belt loop.

Elsa did the same on the opposite side, taking off her jacket. She then focused, generating a frozen ball of hard packed ice in her hand. Several seconds later, with a 'Ding', the elevator door slid open.

Anna held the door open button as she glanced outside. "Looks clear," she whispered.

Elsa stepped into the open area, It was clearly changed from its original function. Wooden walls had been erected throughout the previously open lot, meaning the elevator opened into a small room, the only exit being a wall that was chest high rather than head high, with a perpendicular corridor Lights, and apparently, a loudspeaker was overhead. "I was expecting you to take the stairs," a voice complained. It paused for a few seconds as the sisters got their bearings."And I was expecting the Captain. We did practice this, go to plan B. Patrols, to the elevator."

Almost instantly, a pair of figures appeared in the doorway. They were men, dressed in smart looking black shirts and khakis, each holding what appeared to be large pistols.

At that point, multiple things happened. Elsa flung her ice ball, and the practice she'd put in with Jarvis paid off, as she hit the goon squarely on the bridge of the nose. She was rewarded with the sound of of breaking bone and a cry of pain. His gun clattered to the floor as he clutched at his face.

At the same time, Anna, in one smooth motion, drew her sword from a back scabbard and charged across the short space. She drove her sword just under the other thug's shoulder blades, piercing whatever armor he was wearing. He let out a scream and dropped to his knees.

"Alright," the voice admitted. "I didn't see Adora coming. But Stevens, I thought I taught you to expect snowballs."

Anna turned her wrists and gave Stevens a hard blow to the back of the head with the flat of her blade. His eyes turned glassy and he crumpled to the floor.

"Should have taught them to wear helmets," Elsa retorted.

"Wait," Anna said. "Do you hear that?"

"Yes. An engine, a large one. Where's that signal coming from?"

Anna glanced at the tracker and pointed to her right. "That way!" She was about to start running when Elsa caught her wrist.

"There's got to be more of them!" Elsa admonished, glancing around the corner, and pulled it back just in front of a hail of bullets.

"Right. We need cover." So saying, she sealed off the left passage with one ice wall, then called another down the right hall. She climbed over the short obstacle into the now covered hall, the sound of bullets chipping ineffectually at the two inch thick ice, and simply pushed it in front of her, giving the three on the other side of it the option of getting crushed or getting out of the way. She paused only to freeze the shoes of the first two dazed thugs.

"We can't get past them like this... I hear screaming. Elsa... they're moving them! They're moving the kids!"

But how could they have known? How could they have been ready? Elsa thought, then made a decision. "We'll have to go over. These walls don't go up to the roof," Elsa said. She touched the wooden wall to the left, ice raced down then up and over the wooden structure. Steps jutted out from them. Elsa quickly climbed up, and after a quick check to make sure it was clear, clambered up and over. Anna followed, much more carefully.

They'd dropped into what looked like a gym, complete with a large blue rubber mat in the middle.

"I suppose stalling them is worth a passing grade, but they're in the gym. Cover it, and for good measure the surrounding rooms. Don't need you to... what?

Elsa was forced to put up another wall as more guards ran into the room, fanning out to keep them pinned down.

"Oh, come on. Another one? Fine, I'm coming to handle the situation."

The sound of a door being thrown open, violently, echoed through the converted garage. The thugs on the other ice wall glanced at each other in confusion for a moment, then resumed their assault.

"I'm sorry, Elsa," Anna said. "this was a mistake."

"We were so careful," Elsa told her, her magic reinforcing the ice wall. "But they were ready for us. Was this a trap all along?"

The apologies between them was interrupted by the arrival of a red, white, and blue shield, crashing through the wooden wall to one side. And there was a very upset looking man in a dark blue uniform holding that shield.

Anna and Elsa gaped at him. "Steve?" Elsa asked. "What are _you_ doing here?"

The thugs, in desperation, had turned their guns on Captain Rodgers. This had about as much effect on the shield as the Chitauri weapons had. Steve put his head down and charged, slamming the first two thugs into a wall.

Anna slipped past the edge of her cover on the other side of the Captain. She then took full advantage of the fact her attackers were focused on something else, and grabbed the one in the back (when compared to the captain), at the shoulder, and pulled down as hard as she could. Caught by surprise, the man toppled, and Anna drove the metal hilt of her sword into his forehead.

Elsa followed Anna, squeezing past the edge of the ice wall, throwing another snowball. This one missed, but it distracted its target long enough for Captain America to polish off the last of the five thugs.

"Elsa? What are you doing here? Who's this? Where's the hostages? How did they know I was coming?" he demanded. "What did you give away?"

"Us?" Elsa snapped back. "How did YOU know to come here! You're the one they were expecting in the first place!"

Anna had already pulled the tracker out again, looking daggers at Captain America. "The signals coming from that direction, and its moving!"

Steve took a second to process the tracker, then looked up and over the walls. "It's outside. This way, towards the daylight." He backed up two steps, then charged in the direction he'd indicated, crashing through more walls on the way.

"That's Captain America," Elsa said belatedly, as her excited sister hurried after the Avenger. "They're going to get along just fine," she grumbled, following afterward.

As they approached the, now open, large exit door, their path was blocked again, not by thugs with pistols, but with a man in a blue bodysuit darker than the captains, wearing an ostentatious orange cape, holding both a sword and shield. His face was obscured with a white skull like, mask. "I'm afraid they all get a failing grade," he said.

Captain America flung his shield, but the masked man raised his own shield, just as quickly stepping aside from the main path. There was a resounding **clang** as shield deflected shield, and Steve's shield buried itself in a corner.

"But you? You, I've studied, Rodgers, and I always pass."

Steve stepped forward, throwing a punch that was blocked by his enemy's shield. Skullface countered with a slash that Steve was forced to dodge. "Flaw in your style that you just use a shield. It means you have no reach,"

Steve feinted high and punched low, but Skullface didn't bite, blocked again, and slashed across Steve's body. He cut the uniform, but didn't quite draw blood. "Stick and move," he said, watching Elsa out of the corner of his eye, moving to keep her and the Captain in front of him.

Anna circled around to Skullface's near side, thrusting forward. He was forced to parry the blade, turning quickly to catch Steve's kick on his shield. "Two on one is hardly sporting," he complained.

Steve stepped backward to retrieve his shield, and Elsa fired a bolt of raw frost magic into the gap. It struck the shield, which coated with an icy frost.

"Good try," complimented Skullface. "But I knew there was a chance you'd show as well. Insulated gloves and boots." He riposted off of Anna's sword, cutting her left wrist lightly.

Anna gritted her teeth and her eyes flashed with anger. She redoubled her assault as Steve charged back into the fray, forcing Skullface to go completely on the defensive.

This was a stalling tactic, Elsa realized. She aimed her magic, fueled by anger, at the wall Skullface was backing towards. Ice coated it, with spikes, pointed like daggers erupted outward.

Anna and Steve redoubled her efforts, getting in close with quick slashes and jabs to drive him into this new environmental trap. When Skullface backed up against it, and felt the first pricks of sharp ice through his cloak, he dropped his weapon and shield to the ground.

"I give! I give!" he cried out, holding his hands up defensively.

"I've got him!" Elsa told Anna and Rogers. "Follow those kids!"

Rogers kicked Skullface's weaponry away from him and Elsa froze both into large blocks of ice. Then he ran up the incline that led out of the garage, with Anna in hot pursuit.

"Now. Who are you, and how did we know we'd be here?" Elsa demanded.

* * *

The first thing that Anna noticed was that Steve was running towards a motorcycle. He kicked down what appeared to be footpegs, and hopped on, slamming a key into the ignition. Anna got on behind him, instinctively putting one hand on Steve's hip, the other gripped the tracker tightly.

"Press against the pegs at all times," he ordered, "And hang on!"

"Take the first right!" Anna called out as they started forward.

Rush hour traffic was in full swing, but mostly toward the heart of the city. This path was leading them outward, and while Steve could slip between cars, he still had to stop for traffic lights."I didn't catch your name!" He called over his shoulder.

"Anna!" She replied. "Elsa's my sister!"

"You're A...?" he cut the thought off, as the light turned green and they took off again.

"Oh, this is so much more appropriate!" Anna exclaimed.

"How far?"

"Can't be very... the signal's very strong. There! That truck that just passed the light."

"Let's hope the driver wants to take the easy way, for a change."

When Steve caught up to him, and gave him a very meaningful look, it turns out he did prefer the easy way. Rather than barrel through traffic, getting more people killed, and getting his butt kicked by a very angry Avenger, he pulled over to the side.

The back of the truck was padlocked. Steve simply grabbed the lock and simply snapped it off in his hand. He lifted the doorway to reveal no less than a dozen young girls, most of them with the same Eastern features.


	6. Chapter 6

"So," Elsa said, turning back to the skull masked man. "Why?" she subconsciously generated another ball of hard, frozen ice in her hand. She was ready to throw it if Skullface so much as flinched. Ice was slowly spreading, spiderweb-like, out from her feet.

"Why what?" he asked. He sat up to a more comfortable sitting position. He looked curiously at his shield and blade, frozen in blocks of ice, but made no other aggressive move.

"Why kidnap girls for... that," Elsa said, her temper rising.

Skullface pulled his cape around his body. "Oh. I don't have anything to do with whatever else they do here," he said. "I'm just the trainer."

"What?" Elsa asked flatly.

He shrugged. "You heard me. They just hired me to teach their men to fight." He rolled his eyes. His brown eyes glinted through his mask. "They clearly needed the help,"

"You had no idea about the girls?" Elsa demanded. "I find that hard to believe!"

He shrugged. "I don't have to convince you," Skullface told her. "Just need reasonable doubt from a couple of jurors. But it's true. I specifically have nothing to do with any other activities. I'm just a trainer. As long as the checks clear, I simply don't care."

Elsa stared. How could anyone be so simply... intentionally... focused on money? It boggled her.

"Well?" he asked. "Aren't you going to call the police?"

Elsa frowned. She hadn't quite planned this situation out. She wasn't supposed to talk to the police, right? Or had that gotten out the door once they'd invaded. She could feel Skullface's eyes on her, amused.

"You don't want to call the police?" he inquired. "Why?" He thought about this for a moment. "Did someone tell you not to? Now... who would tell you that... why would someone tell you that?" then he started to laugh. "Wait. Really? That's got to be it. I think there was a movie with this kind of set up. Can't quite remember the title." He thought further. "And that's why... yes. That's exactly it.."

Elsa had no idea what he was talking about, but decided that the prohibition was probably over. She pulled a cell phone from her pocket, and dialed 911. Once she'd reported the details to the incredulous dispatcher, she turned back to Skullface. "So. Why were you expecting Steve?"

"Who?"

"The Captain," Elsa told him.

"Ah, got a message from the boss yesterday. He wanted me to have my best trained men ready to protect the basement area this morning. He wasn't expecting you, but you live in town, so I figured the Captain might have asked for your help."

Elsa let loose a derisive snort. "SHIELD hasn't asked for our help."

"Hah. That sounds like them. They like to keep everything hush hush and in house. There's a reason I turned them down." He shrugged. "There's multiple reasons, the paycheck wasn't good enough either."

Elsa felt disgusted. She said nothing else, just turned and walked to the now open garage door. A few minutes later, multiple cars pulled up. Well dressed men and women got out of them, swarming into the garage, they were joined seconds after by cop cars, containing officers. One of them strode to the Police, claiming that this was now a SHIELD investigation, due to this being the same group that had stolen SHIELD equipment. Another came in and accosted Skullface, and demanded his name, which he gave as "Tony Masters."

A third came up to Elsa, demanding to know what she was doing there. Elsa's anger very nearly got the better of her. Before she realized it, she had hurled her ball of ice in the direction of the SHIELD agent. It missed his head by several inches, and shattered against the far wall. She had another one ready to throw before her brain had even processed what she'd done.

Everyone stared at her in shock.

The last time she'd been in a situation, she'd ran. She ran a long way. Not this time. This time she was going to stand up for herself.

It got very cold in the basement.

"I was here to help people," Elsa said, slowly. "I was approached by a young girl who told me there were girls here, being held captive. That the police couldn't be trusted. And they appear to have been **right**." Elsa didn't even elevate her voice.

"You're not a cop," the agent began again, walking up to her, putting his face right near hers "You're not a SHIELD agent. You're out..."

Elsa's temper broke. The snowball dropped, shattering on the floor. She grabbed the agent's warm hand in her own. She didn't even have to focus her energy, she simply stared into the man's wide brown eyes. He tried to pull away, but Elsa's icy grip held firm.

"Do not **ever** ," Elsa said, "Tell me not help someone. Especially not someone who needs it."

"Ye...es," he whispered through chattering teeth. He was visibly shivering.

Elsa let go, still absolutely furious. She stalked up the driveway and into the open air, leaving a trail of ice behind her. She could hear them talking to the agent that confronted her as she strode to the sunlight: "You've got brass ones, Agent Rielly, I'll give you that. But you're an idiot. Don't think this isn't going up the chain."

Once out of the heat of the moment, and on the street for a minute, she slowly regained control of her anger. She switched her bracers back on. She took a deep breath, and looked around, noticing the police cars for the first time in several minutes. Had she really...

One of the policemen walked up to her cautiously. "Are you OK, Miss..."?

"Elsa," she said. "And... I do. I need to find my sister. Do you think you can help me?"

* * *

"Still not sure how SHIELD knew this was going down."

"Neither do I," Elsa admitted. "I'm just glad you got the radio call about the van. I didn't know where Anna and Captain America ended up."

"I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't bring c... people who aren't on the force." he said. "But Captain Rodger's involved, and if one Avenger is involved, might as well bring in the rest." He told her. "Hey... would you be willing to sign an autograph for me? For my daughter?" he asked, as he parked within sight of the yellow police tape.

She wanted to find Anna, but... he'd helped her. It would take moments. "I would be happy to," Elsa told him. He took out a note pad and pen and passed it over to Elsa. She looked at the pen, and signed her name, _Elsa Arendelle_. She looked at it a bit more. Tony had said if she didn't take a nickname, people would give her one. He had "The Iron Man". Steve was the Captain. Even Natasha was "The Black Widow". She felt she had to pick something. _The Snow Queen_ , she added.

She almost instantly regretted it. It felt clichéd and wrong. But it was the best she could think of on short notice. She handed it back to the officer, who looked down at it, and smiled.

"Thank you," he told her. "Go find your sister."

Elsa opened the door and climbed out of the squad car.

"Oh, and one other thing," the officer said, looking at the truck. "Thank you for the help. On their behalf."

Elsa smiled, bowed slightly, and ducked under the yellow police tape. She walked directly to the truck, still parked on the side of the road and looked inside. The girls were still huddled inside, looking frightened. At the sight of Elsa, they stared for several seconds before speaking rapidly in what she assumed to be Chinese.

They were safe. That was the second most important thing on her mind right then. One of the girls, braver than the others, stood. She placed one hand on the side wall to steady herself. "Ice Avenger... Ice Avenger," she said in broken English, limping towards Elsa. "Where Mei-Lin?"

Elsa looked down at her. "Safe. Hope to get you all home."

The girl's dirty brown eyes blinked back upwards at her. "Thank... thank you."

"It makes me happy to help," said Elsa, simply. And it was true, magic or no magic, she had helped in getting these kids out of their own personal nightmare. While that may seem less important to saving the world, or at least New York, that didn't mean it was less important. It may have even more important, in some ways. The kids had fewer people looking for them.

"I'm sorry," Elsa said as some of the others began to rise. "I need to find my sister." She turned away from the crestfallen looks, moving through the sea of police come to escort the kids away. After another minute of searching, she finally located Anna. Steve Rodgers was still with her.

"Elsa!" Anna said. "There you are!" she launched into the story of how she and Steve caught up with the kidnappers. "It was kind of anticlimactic," she admitted. "But, to see those faces," she said, brightening up again.

"I agree, I feel the same way," Elsa said. She met Steve's eyes. "We need to talk about the SHIELD Agents at the garage..." she started.

"I know," Steve said, glaring at Elsa.

"Steve?" Elsa said, shocked, stepping back. "What's gotten into you?"

"Not here," he said. "We're going to be going to a SHIELD field office," he said flatly.

"Wait, what?" Anna said, as startled as Elsa was. "We helped the kids, now we're going back to Stark tower, right?" she said, appealing to her sister.

"No. You need to be debriefed, I'm just making sure the police have taken care of the situation here."

"SHIELD doesn't want our help," Anna told him. "Why do they want us to debrief?" she frowned. "What does that mean, anyway?"

"Not here," Steve repeated.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Steve, we saved the world... we saved those kids. What is..."

"Not. Here." Steve said a third time.

A black sedan drove up to the yellow police tape. Steve nodded to it. "Ride's here."

Anna looked at her sister. "Do you trust him?"

"I want to," Elsa replied. "Badly."

* * *

The SHIELD field office was a quiet looking building not far from Downtown. If it wasn't for the Eagle logo on the outside, Elsa would have mistaken it for just another office building.

The tension on the ride over, on the other hand. That spoke louder than any words.

They were filed into a conference room. A plasma TV screen took up the wall to the left. Steve and one agent sat on one side of the table, Elsa and Anna took seats on the other.

"Still don't know why we're here," Anna said, not bothering to hide her irritation.

"You want a debrief," Elsa said. "Fine. We'll start with Tony Mas..."

"No, I want to start with the elephant in the room," Steve told her.

"I'm sorry?" Anna asked. "There's no elephant in this room.". Elsa could only offer a shrug. She'd never heard of it either. How does one not see an elephant?

"I want to know how you found out about the kidnapping ring. Someone tipped off the smugglers..." Steve began.

"Wait," Anna interrupted. "Just wait. You think **we** gave surprise away?" Anna frowned. That didn't sound right to either of them. "We weren't the ones that ones that the kidnappers were expecting. In fact, I'd think it would have been you that did that!"

Steve narrowed his eyes at the accusation. "You don't know what you're talking about,"

"Actually," Elsa said, "She knows exactly what she was talking about." Elsa related the story she got from the 'Trainer'. Steve looked dumbfounded. "And it's true. He'd said from the beginning he was expecting you." Elsa concluded, her tone remaining even. "Now. If you want further answers, you're going to have to tell me... to the best of your knowledge... what is exactly going on."

"You're not cleared..." Steve interrupted himself.

Elsa could feel her temper rising. Everyone else felt the temperature falling just enough to be noticeable. She took a deep breath, trying to force her temper to cool off. "Is that you talking, Steve?" she asked. "Or is that SHIELD? Steve met her eyes, and they stared at each for several seconds. "Do you trust that I want to help people?"

"Yes," Steve admitted. "I do. Alright. Here's what we know. There is a criminal gang that's attempting to collect alien tech and people with powers, in order to become the preeminent gang in New York. They're the one that took on SHIELD. The transport convoy which you and Stark interrupted," he began. "Now. We've a mole in their organization. Someone trying to identify the man at the top so we can bring the entire thing down. A little over twenty four hours ago, he met his handler about these slave traffickers. His handler told him, explicitly, not to touch it. What he didn't tell them is that we'd take care of it. The police were informed of the situation this morning, and that we were going in within the hour, and not to send any units. I didn't want any bystanders getting caught up in a firefight."

Elsa and Anna exchanged a look at this comment, but said nothing.

"You got there sometime after that, but before me." Steve leaned on to the table. "Turnabout's a fair play. So your turn. How did you know to that anything was happening there?"

"I don't think your 'mole' took no response to be a good response," Elsa told him.

"Was for his own good. What he didn't know, he couldn't give away," Steve said. "I don't like it much, but I get the logic in this specific case. We don't want him to give himself away. And if he hears the news, but isn't surprised by it..."

"Maybe. But I think your inside man decided to go outside instead, to make sure someone would help them." Elsa told him. Then she told everything that had happened since meeting little Mei-Lin. "She was adamant about us not talking to the police. I think there is another 'mole' in the police."

Steve did not interrupt.

"Now. If you really want this mob leader," Elsa said. "I'll bet you could get Mr. Masters to talk, if given right sort of incentive. For example, he was apparently offered a job at SHIELD, but turned it down. Maybe a deal to avoid prosecution would get him to reconsider. If he's as good as teacher as he thinks he is, it might even get SHIELD something it really wants."

"It's not a bad idea," Steve admitted. "But we'll have to ask Maria first."

"So get her on the phone."

 _A/N: If you're saying to yourself "Iron Man 3" happened before Agents of SHIELD, by the way, you're right. I had to mess a bit with the timeline to make it work.  
_

 _Also... " **The Snow Queen** " is very cliché. If you've got a better code name for her, send me a message. I spent way to much time with this._

 _-John "TheZorker" Burkhart_


	7. Chapter 7

The SHIELD observation room windowed over another smaller room, consisting of only a small table. Above, Steve had rejoined Elsa and Anna after getting off the phone with Director Fury, his face currently neutral. "Fury thinks its a good idea. Let's see if he takes the offer."

Elsa, Anna, and Steve watched as Tony "Taskmaster" Masters was sat down on the other side of the window. "He can't see us?" Anna asked, tilting her head at the window. The agent that looked up toward the window, nodded once without making eye contact, and left.

The captain shook his head. "He'll suspect you're here, of course. But it''s one way glass. He can't see you.

"How does that actually work?" Elsa asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know," Steve admitted.

Anna watched him for a few minutes. "What are they waiting for?" she finally asked.

"They're trying to make him uncomfortable," Steve explained.  
Anna rolled her eyes. Taskmaster looked like he was leaning back in the chair. "I think he's trying to go to sleep."

Steve chuckled. "I suppose he is. Maybe he's a veteran."

"Veteran of what?" asked Anna.

Steve started. "War." He caught himself. "I'm sorry, I'm used to being on the other side of missing culture idioms."

Anna nodded in understanding. She was still somewhat upset with Steve for the way he'd treated both her and her sister. But he'd calmed down, and taken the time to process what they'd said.

A thump from the interrogation room got everyone's attention, as a different agent walked into the interrogation chamber. "Mr. Masters," the first one said. "I'd like to offer you a deal."

For the first time, Masters looked up. "What makes you think I want one?" Now that his mask was gone, Anna could see his face for the first time. He was older, well, older than Steve and herself. Middle age, these days? But those eyes, those calculating, almost sunken, brown eyes, they stared into the agents face like some sort of drill.

"Because you're a practical man. You say we can't tie you to the kidnapping ring."

Masters shrugged. "You can't," he confirmed with a bored tone.

"Maybe. Maybe not. You were there when the kids were."

"Nobody saw them there," Masters objected.

"That is as may be," the Agent said. "But that's enough for a grand jury to indict. Which means discovery, and it means we get a good hard look at any skeletons you might have in your closet. How clean are you, Mr. Masters?"

Taskmaster shifted in his seat, his voice not losing its professional crispness. "If I've done anything... Agent, I don't remember it. You can have your fishing expedition. Let me know if you land anything."

The agent leaned forward. "But what if we didn't need the fishing expedition. What if we kept your name out of it, spared both you and SHIELD the time and energy of a trial."

"And you want me to give up my employer. There goes any reputation I have..." Taskmaster began.

"First of all, Mr. Masters, I don't want your name in the limelight. Yes, it would be easier... much easier, if we could follow your paychecks without getting a court order for the routing information. But, involvement or not, you were working for the same group of people. That warrant is already being written up for a judge's signature. And your boss already knows you were taken down. So, really, nothing to lose there." He held up his hand.

"But what if there was something to gain?" the Agent asked. "Captain America told us about the fight. There's not many people that could stall him one on one. He had an ally, and you still almost put your back to the wall and simply refused to go down."

Taskmaster nodded at the compliment. "I've never seen anyone fight with a sword the way she did. Anna beamed for just a second. "It was so archaic that it was actually effective." Anna lost her beaming face. "There's some actual talent there. She's no... what's his face. Dane something? But she had potential."

"That's what SHIELD would like to tap into, Mr. Masters,"

"Oh, no. I'm not going to work at your Academy. Not interested."

"That would be a waste, wouldn't it?" The Agent agreed. "Fury wants you at the Triskelion. Think of it as a..."

"Please. Don't say it."

"Masters class," the Agent, continued, undaunted. A groan echoed through the observation area. Taskmaster looked pained. "Choose your own students, and we will guarantee to match the salary of whatever you're making now. And you stay out of the press. Nobody, outside SHIELD, knows you're on the payroll."

Taskmaster folded his fingers, plainly intrigued by the idea. "If I take this deal, how long before I can walk away with no hard feelings?"

"Let's say two years..."

"Not a chance. Three months. Good enough to get one class through most of what they can be taught."

"A year." the Agent countered. "Let's skip the negotiation. Fury won't accept less."

Taskmaster looked hard at the Agent. "A year of teaching... same salary... I get veto power over the students. I get my mask back." The Agent looked surprised. "Think of it as my brand. I want my mask."

"Sure. You get your mask."

"Alright. And you get your routing information," Taskmaster agreed.

The Agent smiled. "It does make it easier when people recognize their own self-interest." He held out his hand.

Taskmaster leaned over and shook it. "I suppose. Hey. Do I get dental?" The Agent and Taskmaster walked out.

"Alright, now what?" Anna asked.

"Now I wait for the researchers to trace the information, or our contact to check in, to find out who's leading this operation," Steve said. "Then SHIELD goes in and..."

"I'm sorry," Elsa said. "I? You're not honestly going to turn down offered help."

"We're going," insisted Anna. "With or without you, Mr. Rodgers."

"Not my call, it's an order," Steve was trying to keep his face neutral. But Elsa could tell he didn't agree with this order. It was conflicting with his loyalty to SHIELD.

"We're not part of SHIELD," Anna said darkly. "This Fury person can't order us around."

"No, but they don't have to share where the target is," Elsa said. She kept her eyes focused on Steve. "But Steve knows what we stand for. And he knows that my ice is the best cover for civilians that he's got. He's not one to turn down people who need help... or people who want to give it. Are you Steve?"

Steve opened his mouth to speak.

"I understand you're in a tough position," Elsa continued. "You are... let's see if I get this right... between a rock and a hard place. You want to be a good soldier, but you don't want to turn down the help, either. Do I have it right?"

Steve's mouth snapped shut. He nodded curtly.

"It's on us, Steve. We're going to see this through, and it'll be much easier if we go with you rather than apart from you." Elsa's full court press was interrupted by both girls cell phones going off simultaneously. Elsa glanced at it. "Jarvis," she explained, and stepped into the corner.

"Your sister," Steve tried to begin again. "I get. But you don't have..."

"What don't I have?" Anna's temper was rising once more. "Magic?" she sputtered, "Superhuman strength?"

"Training," the captain told her. "You don't have the skill set..." Steve was himself interrupted by a knock on the door. "That was quick," he said, moving to answer it.

"We have him," said raven haired woman who was waiting for him. "Guess we owe agent Payne an apology."

Elsa snapped her phone shut. "What a coincidence. We have him too."

* * *

They'd moved into a much more comfortable, and much larger office. They were joined by the woman who summoned them from interrogation, and a taller unshaven man, with piercing brown eyes, and ballistic armored suit that just screamed Field Agent at them.

"Brock, Roxie," Steve nodding to them in turn. "Meet Elsa and Anna Arendelle. Elsa, Anna, this is Roxie, SHIELD's local forensic accountant," Roxie gave a nervous adorkable little wave, "and Brock Rumlow, officer in charge of the Strike Team, and one of SHIELD's best."

"Coming from the Captain, that's quite the compliment," Elsa said.

Brock gave a wide smile.

"Alright, Elsa, what can you tell us?"

"Jarvis told me that the building was owned by Williams Innovations..."

Roxie tilted at this, and Brock gave a start of surprise. "The munitions manufacturer?"

"Right. It's no secret that the company is in financial trouble, even with Stark Enterprises no longer a rival in the weapons field," Elsa continued. "Jarvis told me that about a year ago, there's been further trouble, and the board is suspecting Simon of embezzling money. A few other WI buildings have been found as parts of minor crimes, but nothing led back to him or the company. I'm of the opinion that's he's invested in organized crime."

"Alright, Roxie, it's your turn."

"In front of them, Rodgers?" Brock said, glancing at the girls. "You know what Fury said."

"Consider this a joint investigation, Brock," Steve said, cutting him off. "They shared their information, now we're going to share ours."

Roxie turned to her computer, "It's funny you bring up Simon Williams." She tapped several keys, and a face appeared on a large public plasma screen. "This is Eric Williams. Yes, that would make Simon his younger brother. The money trail that starts at Taskmaster and what few records we found in that basement lair they were using, goes right to him."

"Can we confirm the link between them?" Brock asked.

"Now that we know to look, I bet we can," Roxie smirked. "But, it presents a problem..."

"Do we have enough to convict?" the Captain asked.

"If we can get a hold of the financial records, as well as testimony from Agent Payne and Mr. Masters, I'd say we have them both dead to rights. That's not the..."

"Can we locate them both?" the Captain asked.

"Simon's easy enough. But Eric's going to be tougher. Especially if he goes to ground..."

"Get on the phone with a judge for an emergency warrant. You're right. He's a flight risk, we need to get a handle on his credit card information. We need to find him. We'll also need a list of all Williams Industry owned buildings in the city." Steve turned to Brock. "I want Strike ready to hit each and every one of those buildings owned by WI. As for you," he gave almost a predatory smile. "You get Simon. Team up with the NYPD if we need manpower."

"Alright, that covers the problem."

Brock wrinkled his nose. "The white collar collaborator? That'll be boring."

"Chin up, you might get the chance to arrest him in the middle of shareholder's meeting."

Brock laughed. "Alright, where will you be?" he asked.

He glanced at the girls. "Ready to do some Avenging?

Elsa and Anna smiled simultaneously.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Elsa asked as they piled into the silver sedan. Steve had gotten them both earpieces similar to the ones Elsa had used in the battle for New York. Anna had been thrilled.

Steve strapped himself in behind the wheel. "We have a mole, Agent Payne. We've sent him a text message informing him there is to be a breach, and we're heading to his last known location, based on the information he gave us."

"Let's hope nobody gets suspicious," Anna said. "Well, any more suspicious then they were all ready were. You know what I mean," she finished, flustered.

"Well, we did ring the front doorbell," Steve said. "Which is why we're accelerating the endgame. Someone... maybe it was us, maybe it was Payne, whoever, someone tipped off the Maggia to our arrival."

"Either way, they know we know... and maybe how we found out, which means we need to get your agent out as soon as possible," Elsa concluded.

"Right," Steve said, stepping on the gas.

* * *

Steve's sedan pulled to a stop. "Roxie? Do we have that warrant?"

"We do, Steve, you are clear to engage," came the reply.

They'd arrived at a warehouse a block or so from the Hudson river, Elsa could see a few boats tied to the fence at the waterline. "On my mark," The Captain said. Elsa switched off her bracers. Anna drew her sword, which glinted in the noon sun. A few pedestrians stopped to gawk at the pair of Avengers and their swordswoman companion. Steve ignored them.

"Three, two, one," he counted down, and simply rammed the front door with his shield. Elsa and Anna followed him in. They'd broken into what should have been a reception area, but was empty. Footsteps echoed behind the only door to the back.

"Oh good," Steve said. "There's still someone here." Once again, he eschewed the door, choosing instead to reduce it to splinters. His breach was met with gunfire on the other side, two different Maggia, both wielding what appeared to be machine guns, simply unloaded their ammunition into the shield of Captain America.

This had apparently happened before. Elsa was willing to bet it would happen again. Bullets scattered wildly all over the room. There was a scratch on the paint, but not so much as a dent on the metal.

"Remind me to ask what that shield is made off," Anna whispered to her sister. "I want a sword made out of it."

"Good luck with that," Elsa replied. The Captain had headed to take out the gunslinger on the right, and Elsa aimed her magic at the weapon of the other one. He gave a shout of pain as it iced over, throwing it to the floor. A moment later, the Captain caused him to give another, much louder scream of pain, as he crumpled to the floor.

After a short hall, the warehouse opened up into a much wider room with shelves and stacks of some kind of product. A variety of nauseating scents had permeated the room, giving a hint of what at least some of the product was. "Spread out. Our agent is here and... yarrrrrrrgh!"

A pair of yellow metal cords had whipped down from the ceiling, catching Steve under the shoulders, completing an electric circuit. Steve's body twitched with the jolts. Elsa ran forward, turning to see an office on the second floor of the facility, connected to the ground floor by a set of metal stairs, fixed to the wall. Constrictor was there, looking down on Steve from above, continuing to feed energy through the whips.

Elsa gave a cry of alarm, forming and throwing a ball of hard ice directly up at the now much more sensibly clothed Constrictor. Her technique, and her aim, had improved since they'd last met. It connected directly with the forehead.

He looked up and snarled at her. He snapped his whips, dropping the Captain to the floor, then took off towards the stairs, taking them two at a time. Anna observed the situation, then charged toward Constrictor.

This was the wrong thing to do. He gave a tight grin, and snapped his metal whips again,, causing them to curl around Anna's sword. Sparks visibly arced down the blade, causing Anna to drop to one knee as her sword clattered to the ground. A flick of Constrictors wrist sent the blade spinning down an alley of shelves. "Now," Constrictor said in a gruff voice, "it's just you and me, Ice Witch."

Elsa narrowed her eyes. He'd hurt Steve, possibly killed him. He'd hurt Anna. Snow had begun to circle around Elsa, a visible display of her fear for the others, and her anger at Constrictor. She clenched her fists. "Fine. This one's for keeps," she said, her voice flat. She stomped her foot on the ground, causing ice to begin to frost over the stone floor of the warehouse, spiraling out her from her.

She then very quickly ducked under the first whip that headed her way, taking a step backward. The second caught her very briefly on her hand, giving her a mild shock. Clenching her teeth, she raised her right hand, causing ice to erupt from the frosting over stone floor.

Constrictor jumped, but not quickly enough, his pants ripped by the sudden stalagmite. He gave a guttural growl and moved forward to close the distance, nearly falling on the now slick floor. Elsa slipped backward, slipping over the ice as smoothly as a skater.

"Elsa... behind you!" Anna whispered, trying to shake off the shock.

Elsa turned on the spot, a ball of ice already in her hand, sighting the gun toting goon that was attempting to find purchase enough to aim and fire his weapon. Elsa's aim was true, and she socked him in the chest, causing him to stagger backward, then slipping and slamming his back on the smooth ice. Elsa winced in sympathetic pain. He wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Constrictor used that moment of distraction to strike one his whips around Elsa's left upper arm. For a brief second, the electricity fired her nerves into reporting excruciating pain. After a moment, the pain simply stopped. Constrictor and Elsa stared at each other, then looked at where the whip had coiled around her. It was no longer in direct contact to unguarded flesh, an intercepting layer of ice had appeared between her skin and the whip.

Elsa gave Constrictor a very brief smile, and the ice coating ran up and down her arms, covering herself in a small, but effective, layer of armor. She grabbed the crackling whip with her right hand, and pulled it toward her. He stumbled forward on the ice. Mimicking her throwing motion, she turned slightly away from him and snapped forward, putting her upper body into socking him right in the stomach with an ice gauntleted hand.

His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes went wide. He was apparently used to being hurt, though. His counter punch landed on Elsa's shoulder, missing her chin by inches. Elsa gave a gasp in pain, the ice may have spread out the impact, but it didn't cushion the blow as much as she would have liked. She shoved him away, using the momentum to skate backward on the ice.

Anna had regained her feet but was remaining crouched, looking for the proper time to rejoin the fight. Elsa skated around him, trying to keep his feet moving, and his back to her sister. Elsa might have immunity to Constrictor's lightning whips, but Anna had no such protection. And Steve? Steve was just now starting to come to his senses.

Constrictor moved toward her again, fast enough to keep her from trying to just freeze his feet to the floor, but steady enough to not slip. He was still the better fighter, but Elsa had mobility. She could bring the blizzard, but that would blind her just as much as Constrictor. She launched another iceball, aiming at the chin, as much as a distraction as anything else. She skated backward as she met her sister's eyes briefly. Anna glanced at Constrictor's shoulder, then back to Elsa.

And Elsa got it. She focused again, creating not the hard iceballs she had been using, but two, powdery, true snowballs. She threw the one in her left hand first, and again, Constrictor dodged it. She followed it up immediately with the one in her right hand, which landed with an innocuous _splut_ on Constrictor's face.

Anna raced forward, or a close enough facsimile once one counted for the ice. She had enough momentum to grab one of Constrictor's arms as he tried to brush the snow from his face, and send them both crashing toward the ground. Anna caught herself, Constrictor didn't, as was momentarily stunned.

Elsa skated quickly over to them, laying on the magic thickly to freeze both of his hands to the floor. "Thanks, Anna," she said, holding out her hand to help her sister off the floor.

Anna grabbed and almost immediately released it. "Too much magic, Elsa. Your hands are **ice cold**." Elsa turned on her bracers as Anna scrabbled to her feet. "So who is this guy, anyway?" she asked.

"Agent Payne," Steve said as he got to his own feet.

Elsa and Anna gawked at him. "That's your mole?" Elsa asked, amazed.

Captain Rodgers walked carefully over to the struggling Constrictor. "It..." he grabbed Constrictor's hairs and looked at his face. "...isn't. Who are you?"

The man simply stared at Steve with venom in his eyes.

Steve dropped the man's head back to the ice unceremoniously. "Let's look in the office." he told the girls. As they made their way to the stairs and up them, there was the sound of breaking glass. Without a word between them, they hurried up the stairs. The office door was locked. Steve took that as an invitation to reduce a third door to kindling. In the room with cracked monitors, dented computer cases, and a broken window, was a man, tied to a chair. He'd clearly been severely beaten, his eyes were bloodshot, cheeks bruised, and shirt torn.

Elsa stared at him, realizing she recognized him. This was the Constrictor she'd seen in the raid. "You... you must be Agent Payne."

He stared in their direction, clearly trying to focus. "Getting away... Eric..."

Elsa took only a half second to parse this, and ran to the broken window. She could see the back of a man, sprinting towards the Hudson. She turned her bracers off. Focusing her magic, she created an ice ramp down to the street below, and simply surfed down it. She hit the ground running, the Captain not far behind her.  
Eric Williams beat them to the Hudson, where he leaped over the guard rail. He must have landed in a boat, because

Elsa raised a single eyebrow as she grabbed the guardrail herself. It frosted over as she looked into the river. Eric had just got the boat started. "Oh, come on. He's trying a water escape?" she said. "He did see me, right?" She projected her magic ahead of her, causing the surface of the river to freeze around Eric's speedboat. Its motor sputtered, trying to cut through the ice in utter futility.

"Roxie," Anna's voice came through the intercom. "We need an ambulance at our location. Agent Payne has been seriously injured."


	8. Chapter 8

Elsa, Steve, Anna, and Roxie had gathered back in SHIELD's New York headquarters. This time around, they were in a wide open room, computers alongside one wall, with a large screen monitor with the faces of Nicholas J. Fury and Maria Hill looking back at them.

"Agent Payne is currently in the hospital in stable condition. He's in a lot of pain, and has a few broken bones, but he's expected to make a full recovery," Roxie said, looking up from the sheaf of papers in her hand.

"If you haven't already, get his wife and son on the first available flight to New York," Fury ordered. Roxie nodded. "Was the Constrictor suit and weaponry recovered?" he continued.

"It was, sir," spoke up Captain Rodgers. "The enemy combatant that was using the weaponry is also in custody. We also retrieved the original marked items from the convoy raid."

"That idiot is damn lucky he didn't electrocute himself without using the insulated suit. Do we know who he is?" asked Maria.

"Not yet. I'll get back to working on that as soon as I'm done here," Roxie told them.

"And the Williams brothers?" Fury asked.

"Safely in the holding cells of NYPD. Eric getting bail isn't likely. The statement taken from Agent Payne tied him directly to some gang related shootings, not to mention the SHIELD sting. Simon, however will most likely be released on bail, if we don't do something to stop it. "

"We will," Maria promised. "Anything else you want to note?"

"Warrant was through properly before anything happened, so we're covered on the technical side. I think we're looking at some pretty high profile collars. Might be outside of SHIELD's normal stomping grounds, so I suspect you'll be hearing from the FBI; but with New York PD helping with the busts, I think they'll be happy."

"I have a question," the Captain said. "Did we figure out how the Maggia were alerted to the raid?"

"Paid informant in NYPD. We've got him picked up as well. It's why I don't know who the imposter Constrictor was, yet."

"Anything else?" asked Maria.

Roxie rifled through her notes. "No, I think that covers just about everything, directors. Unless you had something else for me?"

"Good work, Agent Roxie," Fury told her. He shifted in his seat, turning his good eye directly on Captain Rodgers. "Now, Captain Rodgers, I get to deal with you disobeying a direct order. You had Strike team at your command, why did you take two civilians with you?"

"With all due respect, I needed them, sir," Steve told him.

"Sell me on that, Rodgers," Fury said.

"First of all, Director, they're not civilians. Anyone who goes through a battle like the Battle for New York with their head on straight afterward should be considered a veteran. And I saw Anna going to bat for the hostages of the kidnapping ring. I needed people, so I chose them. It''s not like they were drafted, Fury. They volunteered... they needed to help, just like **I** did," Steve told him.

Fury's single piercing eye focused on Elsa momentarily. "Why not have them accompany Rumlow to apprehend Simon?"

"They... Elsa specifically, already had a rough encounter with Strike. If you've not gotten a report on that, you will soon. In any event, I've worked with Elsa before, Rumlow hasn't."

Fury leaned back, his eye now looking directly at Anna.

"What made you think you were going to be able to assist the situation?" Maria asked.

"I..." began Elsa.

"Not you, Elsa," Maria clarified. "Anna, what did you think you were going to add?"

"Why does that **matter**?" Anna exclaimed. "I saw what they were doing. How can anyone not want to help? Don't start about not having Steve or Elsa's powers..."

"Are you envious of them?" Fury interrupted.

"Wait, what?" Anna said, stepping back as if struck. " **NO!** " she shouted. "I... I saw people in trouble and I want to help. Can't you understand that? Magic, super strength, training, or not, it doesn't matter. I want to help people."

"You do have a knack for jumping in head first, Anna," Elsa said gently. "You just need to learn to think a little bit," she added quickly.

Anna looked mutinous. "I'm not going to stop."  
"And you shouldn't," Elsa said, "We're a team." She reached for, and grasped hold of, her sister's hand. "Just use your head a bit more," she whispered. They turned back to Fury, together.

"Told you," said Fury towards his assistant. Maria shrugged. "Since you're not going to stop," Fury began, "We would like to give you the best opportunity to help."

The Captain looked at Fury speculatively. "The academy?"

Fury shook his head. "No, too high profile. We'll bring them right to the Triskelion. We did just hire what I hope is a very good trainer."

Steve gave Fury a hard look. "And when I'm available, I would be happy to give you close combat instruction as well. I suspect Natasha... and Barton if he's ever around, would be happy to help as well."

"When you're available," Fury repeated pointedly.

Elsa thought about it. It's what Anna wanted. She knew that. And she wanted to trust Fury. Fury who gave her a chance to see that her magic could be used to help people. Fury who sent... specifically... people out to give Anna and Arendelle a second chance. Now he was offering a chance to push that further.

"Why make this offer now?" Elsa asked. There was something about it.

"Because I didn't know how badly you wanted it," Fury told her. "With your Sister back with you, I thought you might find a niche for yourself. But, when the chance came knocking, you stepped back into battle, so to speak. For all I know, you go back to Arendelle and reclaim your birthright."

Steve's eyes flickered over to Elsa.

"How would I lead them into the twenty first century..." began Elsa.

"You're Elsa," Anna told her. "You'd find a way. We would find a way," she corrected.

"We could always help you," said Fury. "We could always put a SHIELD base under the North Mountain... give Stark an excuse to put another Arc Reactor somewhere of personal importance."

"I'd completely let you build a base," Elsa said. "But that's not my call any more, is it?"

Fury shrugged. "I'm just saying you do have another home. But if this is what you want..."

"Is it what you want?" Anna asked her.

She was born with magic. She'd been brought to this time. Maybe there was no fate, maybe it was pure chance. Or maybe there was a reason... and maybe that reason was to help people. "It is what I want, Director."

"Then welcome to SHIELD."

* * *

Elsa and Anna got out of the SHIELD car that had brought them from Dulles, and walked through the garage into the Triskelion proper.

"This... wow. I thought Stark Tower was big," said Anna. "Where were supposed to be meeting the director?"

"Right here," said Fury, putting down a newspaper. At his side was a bald man, with wide wire rim glasses, wearing an expensive looking black suit and very nice tie. "Glad you could make it," Fury said. "We're going to help you fit in, here in DC. We've got you a new two bedroom apartment. Won't be as nice as Stark's penthouse, but it should serve you both."

Elsa nodded her thanks.

"We've also got you a car," Fury continued.

"That's actually a problem," Elsa said. "Neither I nor Anna have a license... we've never driven."

"Really. We can fix that," Fury said. "SHIELD can, I mean. Let me introduce you to one of your trainers." A bald man with large wire-rimmed glasses stepped forward. He was wearing a very expensive looking black suit. "This is Agent Jasper Sitwell. He'll be showing you around the Triskelion, and DC.

Agent Sitwell reached out his hand to shake Anna's and Elsa's hands in turn. "Pleasure to meet you both."


	9. Epilogue

Inside the cluttered office of Williams International, Brock Rumlow sat, scrolling through reports sent to Simon William, the newly disgraced CEO. One of them in particular caught his eye. After reading it through a second time, he stood, walked to the door, and closed it. He pulled out one of his cell phones and dialed. "Is this line secure?" he began, without pleasantries.

"It is. Go ahead," came the curt reply.

"I'm in the CEO's office of Williams Industries. Nick Fury has just had the CEO arrested on charges of embezzlement and supporting organized crime."

"And why tell me?" asked the voice on the other end.

"Because I've access to their research. There's some interesting things in here. I think certain people will find the experiments into ionic bombardment especially fascinating."

There was silence for a moment. "How so?" genuine curiosity, a good sign.

"They appear to make parts of the human genetic code unstable. This could allow for easier... adaptations of certain experiments. It doesn't help what we're doing here, but those others would probably consider it a favor if they received copies of these notes. A favor they might be willing to repay in terms of resources."

More silence. "I think, Agent Rumlow," the voice said approvingly, "That you've come up with a very good bargaining chip. Especially with the additional complication of the Snow Queen and her sister. Our voice with an internet connection has already recommended waking up the asset, something that's being worked on as we speak."

"Understood, sir. I will get these reports on a flash drive, and make sure that our other agents get you full copies of the research."  
"I wonder. Maybe we should see if we can't provide Simon himself. I believe he is a much better scientist than business man, and if his ethics already have him dipping into organized crime, maybe he wouldn't mind working for us."

"I apologize, sir, that's not something I can help with, not without blowing my cover."

"Of course. I'll look into it discreetly. Do you have anything else?"

"No, sir, that's it."

"Good work, Agent Rumlow. Look forward to hearing from you, again." Secretary Pierce said, "Hail Hydra."

* * *

"Is everything a test with you, Fury?" Maria asked.

"Oh, not everything," Fury said, sitting down. "It's that everything could be a test. It's important to know how people react. Sometimes you're being watched, and need to know how to get people suspicious of things without telling them directly."

"Which is why we're meeting at a Burger King."

"Sometimes you just have to have things your way. If Stark can have a Whopper on national TV, I can, once a month, have a Double Stacker."

Maria rolled her eyes. "First donuts, now this."

Fury lowered his voice slightly. "Also, I'm pretty sure Burger King has fly fans on."

Maria stiffened. "Do you need some for your office?"

"Don''t think they'd do any good. Something's going on, maybe even coming to a head. You know I don't trust Project Insight. Biometric scanners on doors is one thing. But holding a Sword of Damocles over everyone's head? That's Stalinish."

"But the council..."

"Yes, the council thinks we need to be that far ahead of the curve. We don't. It wouldn't have protected us against an Alien Invasion. And the only person safe from it is the person holding the trigger."

"And people on the boats themselves," added Maria.

"Proves my point. I've been thinking of a back up plan, just in case the worst happens. We'll need a way to get underground... truly underground."

"Another base," Maria deduced. "In Arendelle. Because you just got tacit permission. What's Norway going to say?"

"They're not technically in a position to argue. After all, Queen Elsa has never formally given up the position, has she?"

* * *

(February)

"Are we in position to make use of this, Baron Strucker?" his assistant asked, looking at the files they'd been sent from America.

"Hmph. Maybe. We are still focused on this staff, and our volunteers," Strucker said. "Still, this is very interesting. Perhaps one of the other heads has time to make use of it. But that is not important today." He strode walked down the castle steps, into the well lit surgical lab. The patient had regained his feet, and was looking alertly at him. "Congratulations, Herr Hans. The first person to undergo _Extremis_ injection since we received Stark's stabilization adjustments. How do you feel?"

Prince Hans, formerly of Denmark, looked at Baron Strucker and gave a very brutal smile. "Better than I have in a long time, Baron Strucker." He made a fist with his right hand, that glowed nearly as bright red as his hair.

"Very good. You have a very short amount of time to get used to your new abilities. We need you for an assignment in America. We do not have the resources to make an army. This was left over from what AIM had."

"Oh?" he asked.

"Hydra has taken over a SHIELD project and is looking to bring it to a successful conclusion. They would like you there... for security." Baron Strucker gave a thin lipped grin. "Both Elsa and Anna are there. I believe you have a score with those two."

Hans looked at Strucker, and black eyes burned like coals. "Yes. I do."

 _A/N: And on that Bombshell, Frozen Assets has come to an "end". I suppose I could have made it all one larger story, but I think separating them when I time-skip or change themes works better. The next episode will be a one or two shot story, covering scenes from their training with various members of SHIELD, and then we plunge headlong into Cold Mage, the Winter Soldier analogue. As always, thank you for all the Follows, Favorites, and Reviews. If you_ _ **really**_ _like story, consider adding this series to a Fanfic recommendation page on TV Tropes._

 _-John "TheZorker" Burkhart_


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